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International Journal o f M arket Research Vol.

57 Issue 4

Grounding consumer-brand engagement


A field-driven conceptualisation

Guendalina Graffigna and Rossella C. Gambetti


Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan

Consumer-brand engagement (CBE) is a priority in the current marketing agenda.


However, there is still a lack of empirically based studies appraising its essence. Hence
our study is aimed at investigating the distinctive characteristics and the development
phases of CBE. Our study adopted Grounded Theory methodology. Data were
collected throughout semi-structured interviews on a theoretical sample of 41 Italian
consumers of both genders, aged between 18 and 35, all having a favourite brand
belonging to different market sectors. The evidence allowed us to build a conceptual
framework of the CBE construct and of its development. This framework highlights
that a brand is perceived by consumers as engaging when it is emotionally lived as
a life mate. Furthermore CBE emerges as a dynamic process that evolves in three
progressive relational phases: friendship, intimacy and symbiosis. Hence, to engage
consumers, brands should get into their life, activating them both emotionally and
physically, and establishing with them a deep and authentic relationship that gets
increasingly intimate, private and exclusive over time. To achieve this goal, marketers
should carry out a brand strategy based on brand personification, value-based affinity
and affective bonding with consumers. The original value of our study lies in that
it has been designed to anchor a new marketing concept such as CBE in the deep
understanding of consumers meaning-making processes and relationship stories
with a brand to get a comprehensive picture of the construct and how it develops
that may better orientate current and future marketing practice.

Introduction
We live in an increasingly complex world, which is always in turmoil
and whose pace of change is becoming progressively more disruptive.
Consumers are difficult to satisfy and fine-tune with, since they are eager to
co-create meaningful content to relate to their brands and products (Cova
et al. 201 f). They claim to be listened to, to be involved in, to be entrusted
with the production of brand-related content. They feel deeply the need

Received (in revised form): 30 June 2014

2015 The M a rke t Research Society


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DOI: 10.2501 /IJM R -2015-049
G rounding consum er-brand engagem ent

to be the true protagonists of the relational exchange with brands (Baker


& Mouncey 2003; Gambetti et al. 2012). In other words, they claim to be
engaged with their brands.
On the other side, companies are striving to engage consumers to enhance
their capability to regain brand loyalty and defend their profitability from
the inexorable erosion brought about by the current price war forcing
products to compete on sales promotions (Schultz & Block 2012). This
urges companies to put themselves in the shoes of their consumers (Finne
& Gronroos 2009; Melewar et al. 2012). Consumers growing quest
for relational protagonism in their brand interactions seems now not to
be solvable by brands only by eliciting positive emotional responses in
consumers or immediate calls to action, like they always used to (Schultz
& Block 2011, 2012). Rather it calls for a much more challenging effort
on the part of brands that rests in their genuine capability to approach
consumers in their own societies in a way that is meaningful and fine-tuned
with what they consider relevant and close to them. It is important for
brands to make this effort spontaneously, rapidly and in a credible way.
In response to the pressing quest to make sense of and cope with this
increasing complexity of the scenario in which consumers and brands live,
marketing decision-makers, communication professionals and scholars alike
have recently devoted their attention to understand and put into practice the
engagement between consumers and brands as the ultimate manifestation
of the consumer-brand bond. The consumer-brand engagement (CBE)
concept, born in the context of the current liquid society (Bauman 2000),
and being at the top of marketing scholars and marketers agendas (i.e. in
2014 both the annual Conference of the American Academy of Marketing
Science and a prominent international ESOMAR event were devoted to
engagement), seems to have the seeds of novelty in the way it is being
conceived by scholars as well as enacted by practitioners. In other words,
the emerging CBE concept seems to be potentially able to embody that
brand effort to get close to consumers in their own societies in a way that
is meaningful and fine-tuned with their sensitivities. This is immediately
recognisable in that the verb to engage is a polysemous word from a
linguistic standpoint, which means to grab the attention of someone, but
also to be emotionally linked to another person in an affective contract
(to be engaged with someone) that is meaningful, enduring and strong,
and ultimately to hire someone, to bring someone on board, to make
someone be part of something that is relevant for both parts (Oxford
English Dictionary 2010). These multiple linguistic meanings do actually
characterise the CBE conceptual essence as it is emerging in the marketing

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International Journal of Market Research Vol. 57 Issue 4

literature, both theoretical and managerial, and they seem to pave the
way to a distinction of this concept versus other less recent concepts (e.g.
attachment, commitment, loyalty), which have been generally conceived so
far as less open, wide, dynamic and comprehensive than CBE.
CBE is a recent concept in the marketing literature, expanding the domain
of relationship marketing (Vivek et al. 2011) and, more specifically, that of
consumer-brand relationships (Fournier 1998). The concept of CBE has
become increasingly important in the academic and managerial marketing
debate over the past few years, as Brodie et al. (2011) and Gambetti
and Graffigna (2010) pointed out, having recently been recognised as a
central marketing issue by the Marketing Science Institute (2010). CBE
has been seen by academics as a fundamental driver of both consumer
decision-making process (Bowden 2009; Sprott et al. 2009) and brand
equity (Hoeffler & Keller 2002; Schultz & Block 2011), being considered
by marketers a priority in branding strategies (Hollebeek 2011a).
In the current academic marketing debate there is a clear intention
towards the development of a unitary definition of the CBE concept
(Brodie et al. 2011), however a shared and comprehensive definition of
CBE is still to be framed. Moreover, the consumers perspective on the
phenomenon has been neglected so far and there havent been any studies
aimed at exploring and understanding consumers narratives related to
their engaging relationship with a brand.
On the basis of this premise, in this paper we present the evidence of a
first empirical and context-driven effort to put forth a conceptual foundation
of the CBE construct based on depth analysis of consumers experiences
and sensitivities in such an evolving market scenario. We first provide a
focused literary review of CBE in the marketing debate, then we present the
purpose of our study, illustrating how it is positioned in the frame of extant
conceptual literature and how it is methodologically pursued, and then we
present and discuss from both theoretical and managerial standpoints the
empirical findings related to our grounded theory study, putting forth a
preliminary conceptual framework of the CBE construct.

D e fin in g t h e CBE c o n c e p t

A static view o f CBE


As Brodie et al. (2011) pointed out, the terms engage and/or engagement
appear to replace more traditional relational concepts, or they simply appear
to be used as synonyms for other similar marketing constructs, including

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G rounding consum er-brand engagem ent

involvement, commitment and/or participation. However, despite the


relatively profuse usage of the terms engage/engagement in the marketing
literature, little explicit attention is given to the conceptualisation of the
term, nor to its conceptual distinctiveness from more traditional concepts.
Furthermore little attention is paid to the meaning spontaneously and
subjectively attributed by consumers to their experience of engagement
with a brand.
In spite of this, over the past decade a range of definitions has been
suggested in the marketing literature for various engagement forms,
which illustrate the concept from different stakeholder and/or contextual
perspectives (e.g. consumer behaviour, consumer-brand relationships and
self-brand connections, media effectiveness studies) (Calder & Malthouse
2005; Wang 2006; Kilger & Romer 2007; Bowden 2009; Sprott et al.
2009; Brodie et al. 2013).
Existing definitions of CBE predominantly see engagement as a
multidimensional concept representing an activation state of a consumer
based on cognitive, affective and behavioural components (Vivek et al.
2010; Brodie et al. 2011; Hollebeek 2011a, 2011b), influenced by
motivational drivers (Calder & Malthouse 2005; Malthouse & Peck 2010;
Van Doom et al. 2010). These definitions, although of undisputable value,
tend to provide a partial view of the concept in that they do not disentangle
how each of the CBE dimensions interacts with the others in framing CBE.
Moreover, both the expression and the emphasis attributed to each of the
cognitive, emotional and/or behavioural dimensions was discovered to vary
considerably across engagement actors (i.e. engagement subjects/objects)
(Brodie et al. 2011) and/or media contexts (traditional advertising media
vs new online media) (Calder &c Malthouse 2005; Kilger & Romer 2007;
Calder et al. 2009; Hennig-Thurau et al. 2010; Malthouse &c Peck 2010;
Brodie & Hollebeek 2011).
Among the main contributions that made an effort to frame the
conceptual dimensions of CBE, it is possible to recognise studies that,
although considering CBE as a multidimensional construct, stressed either
the cognitive or the affective or the behavioural component of CBE.
Among studies that focused on the cognitive components of the CBE
concept (Wang 2006; Goldsmith et al. 2010), Wang (2006) argued
that engagement in the advertising setting may be seen as a measure of
the contextual relevance in which a brands messages are framed and
presented based on its surrounding context. This definition conforms to
the Advertising Research Foundations (2006) and supports the concept of
contextual targeting to optimise advertising effectiveness.

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International Journal of Market Research Vol. 57 Issue 4

Other studies emphasised the affective component of CBE (Heath 2007,


2009). Heath (2009) defined CBE as the amount of subconscious feeling
going on when an advertisement is being processed. The author puts forth
an emotional engagement model that shows how strong brands can be built
via emotional creativity rather than a rational message, without the need
for the high levels of attention that advertising usually demands. Thus, this
view of engagement holds the level of engagement as inversely related to
the level of attention in processing an ad.
Other contributions focused on its behavioural dimensions (Hoeffler
& Keller 2002; Kumar et al. 2010; van Doom et al. 2010; Verhoef
et al. 2010). The behavioural manifestations of CBE appear particularly
wide and varied in their scope. Hoeffler and Keller (2002), for instance,
recognise that participating in a cause-related activity for a brand is
one means of eliciting active CBE. Kumar et al. (2010) outline three
fundamental behavioural components of customer engagement with a
firm: customers purchase behaviour, customer referral and customers
influencing behaviour towards other customers. Van Doom et al. (2010)
address customer engagement behaviours that result from motivational
drivers including word-of-mouth activity, customer-to-customer (C2C)
interactions and/or blogging activity. Verhoef et al. (2010) see CBE as a
behavioural manifestation of a consumer towards a brand or firm that
goes beyond transactions.
The above-mentioned studies, although remarkable in their contribution
to generate and advance knowledge on the CBE construct, tend to develop
a static view of CBE focusing on constitutive dimensions, antecedents
and consequences as clearly separated entities deterministically related
to one another. Moreover, each of the varied perspectives developed in
these studies no doubt enriches CBE conceptualisation but also inevitably
brings about a complexity and lack of clarity that hinders a genuine
understanding of the CBE concept. First, the cognitive, emotional and
behavioural dimensions outlined are often conceptually juxtaposed and
not empirically assessed as regards the specific role each of them plays in
the CBE construct and how each of them is related to the other dimensions
in building CBE. Second, previous studies have developed contrasting
views of antecedents, constitutive dimensions and consequences of the
CBE construct, which do not help appraise the scope of CBE and its
conceptual boundaries. Extant literature does not speak with one voice on
all these fundamental definitional aspects.
This evidence highlights the opportunity to adopt a comprehensive and
in-depth empirical research approach in the attempt to cast light on and

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disentangle the distinctive characteristics of CBE and the links among


them to ecologically start building a shared theoretical foundation of the
CBE construct.

A dynamic view o f CBE

A recent stream of studies develops a dynamic view of CBE, underlying


the process-based nature of the CBE concept (Bowden 2009; Bijmolt et al.
2010; Gambetti et al. 2012). Bijmolt et al. (2010) in their assessment of
possible suitable models to measure CBE posit that various manifestations
of customer engagement may be generated in different stages of the
customer life cycle. Bowden (2009) defines customer engagement as a
psychological process that models the underlying mechanisms by which
customer loyalty forms for new customers as well as the mechanisms
by which loyalty may be maintained for repeat-purchase customers of a
service brand. The author puts forth a conceptual model of the customer
engagement process that traces the temporal development of loyalty
as customers progress from being new to a service brand to becoming
repeat purchasers. This dynamic view has been very important to start
depicting a realistic conceptual framework of the CBE concept, since
it appears mutable, unstable and fluid as the result of consumer-brand
relationships that may vary significantly and evolve over time on the basis
of the multiple interactions with the context from which they originate.
However this study, like most of the others on this topic, is the result of a
deductive approach elaborating only on previous literature developed in
past times when the consumer, the society, the market and the brands were
different. No extensive or in-depth empirical research has been conducted
yet to get new insights to advance and to support or disconfirm such
conceptualisation.
A preliminary empirical attempt to define CBE has recently been
carried out by Gambetti et al. (2012), who investigated the CBE concept
in an exploratory qualitative study, inquiring as to how practitioners
conceptualise and accomplish CBE in their marketing practices. CBE is
seen by practitioners as a dynamic and process-based concept evolving in
intensity on the basis of the brands capability of increasingly intercepting
consumers desires and expectations using all possible physical and
virtual touchpoints between brand and consumers. CBE is also seen as
an overarching marketing concept encapsulating different consumer
decision-making dimensions, from brand preference to brand purchase.
Although this study provides an interesting view of how CBE is seen by

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practitioners, it needs to be complemented, integrated and consolidated


with a comprehensive empirical study directly involving consumers.

Study objectives
Building on Gambetti et al.s (2012) preliminary empirical attempt to
inductively build the conceptual foundations of the CBE construct,
considered as a fundamental dynamic psycho-social process, our study is
aimed at exploring the consumers subjective meaning-making experience
related to the CBE phenomenon and to its development. In particular, our
study is aimed at: (1) understanding the distinctive characteristics of CBE
from the consumers standpoint; (2) outlining the evolutionary phases of
the CBE process, based on direct consumers experiences.
Building on the evidence of our study, we will put forth a preliminary
conceptual framework of the CBE construct and its related development
phases that will serve as the basis for a second-level conceptualisation we
will carry out in the future, relying on the further developments of our
in-depth comprehensive inductive study.

Research m eth o d o lo g y

Our study was qualitative in its nature and designed according to grounded
theory methodology (Charmaz 2006). Grounded theory is an inductive,
bottom-up research approach used widely in the social sciences (Glaser &
Strauss 1967). This approach provides a systematic analytical process to
drive the discovery of theories, moving from the depth analysis of data. As
opposed to more consolidated, neo-positivistic research perspectives that
prescribe top-down, hypothetical deductive approaches to data collection,
grounded theory does not begin with strong hypothesis, but rather
assumes an exploratory and unstructured approach to data collection and
analysis. Particularly, in our research case, data were collected throughout
semi-structured interviews on a sample of consumers purposively selected
according to the criteria of theoretical sampling (Charmaz 2006).
Theoretical sampling means that participants are selected on the basis
of the emerging analysis, and the theory being developed from data is
subsequently modified from data obtained from the next participants. In
total, 41 consumers were face-to-face interviewed since this number of
participants allowed us to achieve data saturation (Glaser & Strauss 1967;
Glaser 1978). Interviewees were Italians of both genders, aged between 18
and 35, and all were:

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brand-sensitive, which means they all declared to consider the brand


as a distinctive cue of product quality, and they declared to be keen to
purchase branded products
having a favourite brand, in the sense that they all declared they have
a more loved brand (i.e. a brand for which they acknowledge they
have an emotional and affective bond that is stronger than for any
other brand), and they performed repeated purchases of this branded
product in the recent period (at least two purchases over the last year).

In order to develop wide coverage of the phenomenon, encompassing a


diversified range of consumption experiences, favourite brands considered
in the study were of different market sectors: from luxury goods to
mass-market ones (see Table 1). All brands included in our diversified range
are market leaders in their segments, addressed to a wide market, relevant
to products subject to routine use, characterised by high symbolic value and

Table 1 Brands o f the purposive sample

M a r k e t s e c to r B ra n d M a r k e t s e c to r B ra n d
Apparel Burberry Technology Apple
Converse Nokia
Ralph Lauren Sony
Luis Vuitton BlackBerry
Nike Samsung
Max&Co Automotive BMW
Zara Alfa Romeo
Adidas Flarley-Davidson
Intimissimi Fiat 500
Benetton Mini
Celine Vespa Piaggio
Liu Jo Fast-moving Nivea
Accessories Pandora consumer goods Nutella
Furla Mulino Bianco
Breil Amaro Averna
Lancome Coca-Cola
Tiffany Vanity Fair
Thun Gazzetta Dello Sport
Furla
Coccinelle
Bershka
Carpisa
Accessorize

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a clear brand identity for consumers, and among top media communication
spenders in their sectors (UPA 2013). We purposively conducted only one
interview per brand considered, in order to have greater coverage of brands
and market sectors. These selection criteria seemed to us critical to explore
the concept and the practice of CBE in the consumers perspective. The
variety of interviewees allowed us to sample a multiplicity of experiences,
which are both significant and prototypical of the different market sectors, as
well as different among themselves, so as to develop a deeper understanding
of our research object (Seale et al. 2007; Morse et al. 2009).
Interviews lasted around one hour and were semi-structured. The interview
guide was progressively structured and revised according to emergent insights
from data analysis. The interviews were mainly aimed at eliciting consumers
narratives about their brand linkage, the story of their relationship with
the brand, and the feelings and meanings associated to their experience
of CBE. Interviews also deepened the analysis of all contextual elements
that, in consumers experience, did play a role in facilitating or inhibiting
their relationship with the brand; integral transcripts of all interviews were
analysed according to the procedure of grounded theory content analysis,
which requires three sequential phases of coding: a first analysis step named
open coding, which implies a preliminary identification of concepts that fit
with data; a second analysis step, named axial coding, which consists of the
progressive aggregation and condensation of codes into broader categories;
and a final analysis step - selective coding - consisting of the abstraction
from data and the interpretive detection of connections among categories
in order to find the core category (i.e. the pivotal concept that articulates
the whole process under investigation). This complex and systematic coding
procedure was aimed at describing the elements implied in the development
of the CBE process and at defining its evolutionary phases. The analysis
was supported by the software Atlas.ti 6.0 (Muhr 1991), which allowed the
systematic treatment of the corpus of data, keeping explicit track of all coding
steps. Atlas.ti made it easy to retrieve quotations attached to each singular
code in order to support the researchers in going backwards and forwards
from data to categories, and thus in keeping analytical interpretations well
grounded into data. Furthermore, Atlas.ti allowed the researchers to build a
first theoretical framework of CBE by exploring and statistically weighting
associative connections among emergent categories. This complex coding
process was conducted in parallel by two researchers and discussed in several
meetings in order to fine-tune the used coding system and to guarantee the
rigour of the analytical process (Morse et al. 2009) (see Table 2 for a detailed
illustration of the coding procedure).

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Grounding consumer-brand engagement

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Grounding consumer-brand engagement

The analysis was mainly devoted to detect the pivotal elements that
determined consumers emotional linkage towards the brand and to
conceptually draft a grounded framework of the CBE process, on the
basis of consumers direct experiences. We thus mainly searched for
commonalities about the different interviews and we treated emerging
differences as important interpretative cues to proceed in our theoretical
sampling and in the better drafting of our interview guide, in order to
finally achieve the detection of the core category common to all the
collected stories.

Findings

The distinctive characteristics o f consumer-brand engagement


Our study allowed us to frame a CBE preliminary conceptual framework,
emphasising its distinctive characteristics and its developmental phases
(see Figure 1).
In particular, this study casts light on the fundamental features that -
according to consumers experiences - a brand should have in order to
trigger the development of an engagement relationship with consumers.
In this regard, the brand should act as a dream carrier, a relationship
facilitator and a compass for consumers.

Life C om m unicating Feeling m ore Far


A spiratio n al Real Lifestyles trajectories C onnecting Sharing a b o u t oneself self-confident

N./ \ ^
Past Present Future Here away

P o s s ib le P o s s ib le S o c ia l C o m m u n ic a tio n
\/
T im e Space
w o rd s m y s e lv e s a g g r e g a to r channel

\ ^

Figure 1 The consumer-brand engagement process: a preliminary theoretical framework

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International Journal of Market Research Vol. 57 Issue 4

The brand as a dream carrier


In order to be a dream carrier, the brand should be perceived by
consumers as a source of imagination of possible selves and possible
worlds. In this perspective, the brand is expected to sustain consumers
projection to aspirational life trajectories as well as aspirational contexts
and situations that help consumers in pursuing the expression of their
potentialities. At the imagery and representational level, an engaging
brand should be able to suggest possible ways for consumers to express
their personality, and to foster their self-image and satisfaction for their
appearance. Furthermore an engaging brand should carry values that are
important and aspirational for consumers, and thus should be perceived
by them as a source of potential identification.
I like Breil, I find myself with that girl wearing it in the advertising: it is the kind
of girl I would like to be ... or better, that I feel to be. (female, 22 years old, Breil
consumer)

When I see that branded products I think that they mirror my personality. I mean,
there are things that when I see them I think: thats me! (male, 28 years old,
Luis Vuitton)

In this sense, engaging brands are perceived as possible carriers of


aspirational dreams related to the consumers future life plans, lifestyles and
commitments. Brands become bridges for consumers imagination, enabling
them to project themselves into a different and more desirable context or
timeframe. At the psychological level, an engaging brand is incorporated
in consumers imagery and it is perceived according to the psychological
equation: My brand represents myself = I represent my brand.
I like any singular clothes that they do, I always do, I do for certain, because it is
my style. I think the brand well represents the life style I want for me! (female, 26
years old, Liu Jo consumer)

Furthermore the brand, in order to engage consumers, should be


experienced as a possible scenario (real or imagined) where consumers
selves can be free to express themselves. This creative function played
by the brand supports consumer imagination and planning of possible
trajectories not only of consumption but also of relationship with other
individuals and of many other social experiences.
The brand for me is a possible word. It is like when I was a child and I wished I
had a magic machine to make me travel across time and space ... I mean, the brand

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is the same: you can travel throughout it, or thanks to it, and imagine yourself in
different places, (male, 27 years old, BMW consumer)

An engaging brand is thus perceived by consumers as empowering,


because it provides an imaginary scenario in which to freely express ones
own personality and strengths, and in which consumers can experience
themselves as capable, fulfilled and admirable. Consumer-brand engaging
relationships therefore play the psychological functions of strengthening
consumers self-image and offering a representational testing ground in
which to express, assess and fine-tune (at the imaginary level) ones own
values and life projects.

The brand as a relationship facilitator


In order to sustain the development of a true CBE experience, the brand
should also act as a relationship facilitator; this means that the brand
should encourage consumers interpersonal connections, helping them
get in touch with individuals that share the same passions and interests.
Furthermore the brand needs to be experienced by consumers as a
communicative channel, in order to express to others their personality,
their values, their lifestyle - the real ones, as well as the aspirational
ones.
Moreover, an engaging brand makes consumers feel more self-confident
when wearing or bringing it to social occasions. This function appears linked
to the previous one described: due to the psychological equation between
brand and self-image, aspirational brand features are representationally
transferred to the consumers image and self-perception, improving
consumers self-confidence and satisfaction for self-image.
When I see other people having it, 1 recognise that we have the same style. I think
the brand helps you find people similar to you. (female, 20 years old, Tiffany
consumer)

I confess that when I wear my Converse shoes I feel more at ease, particularly
when I meet new people: I think that my Converse speak for myself and they tell
who I am to the others, (female, 23 years old, Converse consumer)

In this framework, an engaging brand is also experienced by consumers as


a direct and effective medium of interpersonal communication. Since the
brand is perceived as aligned with consumers values and personality, it is
lived as a sort of self-branding means - that is, an immediate, dense and
emotionally driven mode of self-communication.

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The brand as a compass


Finally, to engage consumers, the brand should become a compass for
them, meaning that it should act as a reference point for consumers that
is constantly present across time and periods of life. This, more than
representational, constitutes a pragmatic function played by the brand. The
brand, thanks to its features and values, becomes a landmark for consumers
daily life. A first orientating function of the brand is related to times and
generations; in particular, consumers ascribe an intergenerational link
function to the brand, which is experienced as passed from generation to
generation such as an important landmark in its market sector. The role
of personal memory evoked by the brand is crucial for a consumer to be
engaged - a memory that is not only belonging to the individual and his/
her personal story, but also to his/her family and cultural heritage. In this
perspective, in order to become engaging the brand should be perceived as
a guarantee of quality, style and, foremost, of good and positive consumer
experiences that is inherited among consumers across generations.
I never thought of why I use it, this is just normal since my mum, even my
grandma were using it. It is kind of a family tradition, (female, 26 years old,
Nivea consumer)

We passed the love for this brand from generation to generation. I think Ill do the
same with my children, (male, 35 years old, Burberry consumer)

Such an orientating function of the brand also appears crucial with reference
to contexts and cultures: for consumers an engaging brand should be the
one able to make them feel at home in any situation or country they are
in. Like a real compass, which orientates consumers, the brand should
encourage the expression of consumers performance as well as facilitate
their choices across time frames and contextual situations. The brand in
this perspective is perceived as a milestone in consumers lives, and as a
reference point that allows consumers to best perform their consumption
experiences in every part of the world. In order to accomplish this
psychological function the brand promises must be perceived as believable,
trustworthy and durable.
I just bought and renovated my new apartment and I enjoyed buying new Thun
objects to personalise it. They just make me feel at home ... wherever I am,
wherever I go! (female, 35 years old, Thun consumer)

When I travel I bring my Apple apparels with me and I suddenly feel comfortable,
(male, 31 years old, Apple consumer)

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G rounding consum er-brand engagem ent

When I see a Furla shop, I instinctively feel like I know that place, even though
Im in a town I never visited before, (female, 23 years old, Furla consumer)

A humanised view o f the brand: the brand as a 'life m ate'

All these pivotal characteristics are the conditions that drive to a


humanisation of the brand by consumers. In other words, based on these
characteristics, the brand is experienced by consumers as a life mate - an
entity and, beyond that, a human being that consumers perceive as their
lifelong companion, a mate with whom they feel ready to share both their
current life experiences and their future life trajectories, in the here and
now as well as in the tomorrow and everywhere sphere of their space
and time dimension.
The brand is a constant presence in my life, (male, 24 years old, Nutella consumer)

I honestly feel like it is a human being, (female, 25 years old, Fiat 500 consumer)

This anthropomorphisation of the brand is the crucial element (core


category) that triggers the beginning of an engagement relationship
between consumer and brand, as will be explained in the following
sections.

The consum er-brand engagement development phases

The brand life mate metaphor assumes different meanings and


relational characteristics while proceeding in the consolidation of the
relationship between consumer and brand as time goes by. The grounded
conceptualisation built in this study shows that CBE basically evolves in
three main development phases, according to consumers narratives and
perceptions. In the following sections we shall describe in detail these
experiential phases, naming them according to consumers spontaneous
words. We shall report a selection of exemplifying verbatim extracted
from consumer interview transcripts, in order to better ground our
interpretation into data.

The friendship phase

The first phase is described by consumers as a friendship phase, in which


the emotional affiliation and the affective relationship between consumer

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and brand are at the beginning stage of their development, although


already intense. The brand is initially perceived as an important component
of consumers lives, a source of positive feelings and psychological
actualisation. Consumers describe as trustworthy their relationship
with the brand at this stage; a facilitating and supporting relationship
that guarantees the best performance and consumption experience at the
pragmatic level, but that also improves consumers social enclosure and
self-expression in daily life.
The brand is like a trusted friend in my life. It doesnt betray me. (male, 29 years
old, Nike consumer)

Moreover, as in a friendship relationship, the brand and consumers share


stories and adventures on the basis of a spirit of communal cheerful
companionship, rooted in reciprocal knowledge.
My BlackBerry is like an old friend: we shared many good and bad adventures
together. It knows me, I know it ... yes, a true friendship, (male 20 years old,
BlackBerry consumer)

The intim acy phase

The second phase (intimacy) is characterised by a more intimate


relationship between consumer and brand; this is a phase of genuine
engagement in which consumers feel committed to the brand and perceive
it as an important component of their daily life. At this stage consumers
report rituals in using the brand and in taking care of their branded
products, in the attempt to best conserve them. At this CBE level the
emotional components of the relationship with the brand prevail on
utilitarian and pragmatic considerations, and consumers appear really
devoted to their brand, perceiving it as their partner, and developing a
close and exclusive relationship with it.
Im very devoted to my Coccinelle bags. I keep them with extreme care: I clean
the leather several times and I put them away very carefully, (female, 23 years old,
Coccinelle consumer)

At this stage, a genuinely bilateral bond is developed between brand and


consumers; in this bond the brand is expected to absolve its pragmatic and
psychological functions, and consumers are expected in turn to orientate
their efforts to foster the expression and the delivery of brand potential
and values.

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G rounding consum er-brand engagem ent

I will never lend my Harley-Davidson. I would be too afraid that someone may
spoil it. (male, 36 years old, Harley-Davidson consumer)

The symbiotic phase

Finally, a third and more intense phase of CBE can occur, which is
experienced by consumers as a symbiotic relationship with the brand;
this phase represents the highest level of engagement, usually consolidated
through a long-term trust bond between consumer and brand, driving an
extremely strong commitment of consumers in the relationship with the
brand that becomes both indispensable and an inestimable source of
identification and planning of consumption and other experiences. At
this stage consumers dont even question their relationship with the brand,
which is taken for granted and perceived as an embedded component of
their daily life. Consumers at this stage perceive the brand as a propelling
element that makes sense and enriches their life, acting as a kindred spirit
that constantly informs their experiences and view of the world. Hence at
this stage consumers become brand ambassadors, behaving as exemplar
users of the brand, and advocating for it in their social exchanges. Engaged
consumers at this stage also try to involve other consumers in their
fulfilling relationship with the brand, by sharing their branded products
with friends, by offering them as a precious gift, or by testifying the brand
value and quality over time and contexts in peer exchanges. Furthermore
at this stage consumers forecast that their engagement relationship with
the brand will be long lasting and they declare they are ready to pass the
brand inter-generationally, as a witness of unchangeable quality, deep
fulfilment and complicit closeness.
I feel like the brand is a part of myself. It is a source of identification. But it is also
somehow complementary to me. It makes me feel more complete, more settled,
(male, 31 years old, Lancome consumer)

I cannot even imagine myself not using this brand. It is part of my story, so I guess
it will be part of my future. It is a distinctive element of me. (female, 24 years old,
Benetton consumer)

According to consumers narratives, this process-based experience evolves


with the time passing by and is strongly connected to the communicative
actions enacted by the brand, particularly to those perceived as coherent
with the brand core values and capable of making the brand closer to
consumers' contexts and real lives. In particular, across all interviews,

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International Journal o f M arket Research Vol. 57 Issue 4

innovative communication strategies (i.e. viral marketing, entertainment


live events, ambient communications, online communities ...) were
mentioned by consumers as prototypical ways of getting in emotional
contact with their favourite brands.
How the brand communicates is fundamental: it is your way to get really in touch
with the brand, (male, 23 years old, Nespresso consumer)

The Facebook group dedicated to the brand is very interesting to me ... and it
makes me feel the brand is alive. 1 think the web is a very important channel
to make you closer to your favourite brand, (female, 27 years old, Pandora
consumer)

I remember downtown, open air events. Those were really fun and also a good
occasion to get in contact with the brand and with other people that like it. (male,
28 years old, Chino Sanpellegrino consumer)

Discussion
Building on Gambetti et al.s (2012) preliminary empirical attempt to
inductively build the conceptual foundations of the CBE construct, this
qualitative study casts light on the multifaceted CBE experience that
develops in time, and implies the synergistic activation of consumers at
their emotional, cognitive, social and behavioural level. CBE seems to be
shaped by a complex psychological contact experience between consumer
and brand, in which the brand gets incorporated in consumers imagery,
social networking and intergenerational life experiences by acting as their
dream carrier, relationship facilitator and compass.
As in a real human relationship, the brand, perceived as a life mate,
needs to become part of consumers daily lives, and to sustain their future
life plans and trajectories, acting as a constant presence for them that
makes sense to them and is fully integrated into their life experiences.
Furthermore, in order to be genuinely engaging, the brand should also
play an aggregation and interpersonal communicative function (Velotsou
2009) in order to encourage consumers social and interpersonal abilities,
and to make fluid their peer exchange by enhancing their self-concept and
their sense of self-actualisation (Sprott et al. 2009). To do this, the brand
should enhance the linking value it has for consumers - that is, a form of
value individually perceived by consumers with reference to the capability
of a branded product to allow and support social interaction and sharing,
as well as communal meaning-making between brand and consumers, and

623
G rounding consum er-brand engagem ent

also among consumers based on a shared passion (Cova 1997). Finally, to


be engaging, the brand should also play an orientating function, in order
to simplify consumers adjustment to new social, cultural and geographical
settings, both at the pragmatic and the emotional level.
The innovative insight that this in-depth qualitative research provided is
the uncovering of the process-based nature of the CBE bond. The dynamic,
evolving and fluid essence of the CBE construct is something new in
the current social and market scenario, and it seems to better depict the
complexities and the multifaceted essence of the consumer-brand bond. A
bond now simply cannot be designed and decided by the company like it
used to be in the traditional marketing era, but rather is continuously built,
negotiated, nurtured and reshaped by how consumers and brands together
experience and make sense of their friendship, intimacy and symbiosis
relationship phases.
These three relationship phases, which emerged from our evidence, are all
well connoted at the psycho-social and interpersonal level. The interlacing
and progressive intensification of the main experiential and psychological
dimensions previously described (i.e. the brand as a dream carrier, the brand
as a relationship facilitator and the brand as a compass) are the pivotal
elements of the CBE bond, as grounded theory shows. The synergistic
evolution of each of these experiential pivots is the trigger of genuine CBE.
Moreover, the brand humanisation insight, as the ultimate dimension
of the CBE bond, deserves particular attention, both at the theoretical
and at the managerial level, since it implies the unfolding of consumers
inner expectations and motives towards the brand that must be perceived
as meaningful, handy, emotionally lively and trustworthy over time. This
anthropomorphic view of the brand builds on the previous forerunning
work by Susan Fournier (1998), and on the more recent work by
Swaminathan and Dommer (2012), who argued that whenever certain
strong emotional feelings link consumers to their brands, their relationship
can become similar to a love relationship established among humans.
As our evidence has suggested, if the brand constantly maintains its
promise to consumers and evolves in a way that is fine-tuned with their
sensibilities and expectations, the relationship established between brand
and consumers may evolve from an initial friendship stage to a final
symbiotic phase in which brand and consumers are on the same wavelength
and are reciprocally connected in a genuine total embeddedness experience
that informs their current daily life as well as their future life plans. The
further deepening of the brand humanisation insight will be at the root of
our future research developments on the CBE construct.

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In te rn a tio n a l Jo u rn a l o f M a rk e t Research Vol. 57 Issue 4

Furthermore our study highlights the dynamic evolution of the CBE


relationship, which cannot be considered as a monolith or as a static
episode. CBE evolves in at least three different relational stages, all
characterised by different consumers feelings and attitudes, as well
as by different levels of brand use and personal activation towards it.
This implies the overcoming of traditional static conceptualisations
of consumer-brand relationships in favour of more fluid, flexible and
multidimensional ones, able both to cast light on the different elements
that may foster or hinder this process, and to better orientate managerial
practice.

Im p lic a tio n s f o r s c h o la rs a n d p r a c titio n e r s

The evidence of our study contributes to the understanding of the CBE


construct, by generating from the field its distinctive characteristics and
identifying the steps of its development. These dimensions may provide
marketing scholars with a meaningful base to advance knowledge in the
consumer-brand relationship domain, with the aim of better grasping
and making sense of the experience consumers live with their brands,
and the diversified range of behavioural nuances currently enacted by
them towards branded products, beyond purchase. Furthermore, our
CBE characteristics may be of help for practitioners to identify new brand
values and insights, touchpoints, occasions and ways that can improve the
consumer-brand bond to the benefit of both - or guide them in making a
more consumer-sensitive implementation of current brand strategies.
The dynamic nature of CBE highlights that, today, satisfying consumers
and engaging them increasingly implies that brands consider revising their
traditional communicative models in order to activate a dialogic process
with their consumers.
In particular, our evidence seems to suggest that, to engage consumers,
brands should get into their life by developing with them a progressively
intimate physical and value-based proximity. In order to become engaging,
brands should become a more ubiquitous presence in consumers life
spheres thanks to a wide and meaningful coverage of all possible consumer
touchpoints. The brand should also activate consumers both emotionally
and physically, and establish with them a deep and authentic relationship:
an evolving empathetic relationship increasingly private and exclusive
over time. To achieve this goal, marketers may consider the following key
elements to orientate their branding strategies: (1) brand personification
- the brand should be perceived as a human being; the more the brand

62 5
G rounding consum er-brand engagem ent

is perceived as a person, the more it is able to get in touch and move


emotionally and physically another person, the consumer; (2) value-based
affinity - the brand is for consumers a kind of container of thoughts,
perceptions and meanings, and it is then fundamental that those elements
stem from a value system that is consistent and on the same page with
that of consumers; (3) emotional bond - the brand should enhance those
product features and communication stimuli that allow a stronger emotional
activation of consumers - for instance, emphasising multi-sensory product
features capable of eliciting memorable brand experiences, and making
an insightful, disruptive and consumer-relevant use of unconventional
communication tools such as ambient and guerrilla initiatives, and Web 2.0
social media brand applications.

Lim itations and avenues fo r fu tu re research

We believe the evidence of this study may contribute to set the future
agenda of CBE research and practice. Nevertheless, our results need
further confirmation and refinement due to the fact that they refer to a
relatively small sample of interviewees. A quantitative verification based
on a statistically representative sample of the consumer population would
add robustness to our evidence. Furthermore our study focused mainly on
product brands devoted to a wide market, characterised by a high symbolic
value and a clear brand identity; thus some distinctive characteristics of
CBE highlighted in our conceptual framework might not be applicable
to other brand categories. Further studies are needed that explore the
suitability of our CBE conceptual framework for other market sectors
and types of brands. Moreover, since our study shows the process-based
nature of CBE, which develops in the daily life of consumers, it would
be interesting to verify this dynamic path of consumers bond with their
brands with a longitudinal study, able to explore changes in time related
to consumers subjective experiences and concrete behaviours enacted
towards their brands. Finally, a broader cross-cultural analysis of our CBE
conceptual framework stability might provide interesting insights to the
marketing community and suggest implications for international brand
practices across different consumer cultures.

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A bo ut th e authors

Guendalina Graffigna is Associate Professor of Organizational and


Consumer Psychology at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan,

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In te rn a tio n a l Jo u rn a l o f M a rke t Research Vol. 57 Issue 4

where she teaches Qualitative Research Methods and is vice-director of the


Postgraduate Master Program in Qualitative Methods Applied to Social
and Marketing Research. Her current research topics include consumer-
brand engagement and qualitative methods applied to social media.
Rossella C. Gambetti is Assistant Professor of Management Sciences
at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, where she teaches
Corporate and Marketing Communications and Brand Management
and is executive director of the International Postgraduate Master in
Corporate Communication. Her current research topics include consumer-
brand engagement, consumer-brand relationships and innovative brand
communications.
Address correspondence to: Rossella Gambetti, LABCOM, Department
of Economics and Management Sciences, Universita Cattolica del Sacro
Cuore, Largo Gemelli, 1, 20123 Milan, Italy.
Email: rossella.gambetti@unicatt.it

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