The design space of shape-changing interfaces: a repertory grid study
Repertory Grid for Brands
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Using Network Analysis to Understand Bran dsGeraldine R. Henderson, Howard University
Dawn Iacobucci, University of Arizona
Bobby J. Calder, Northwestern University
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we model brand associations as associative
networks. Although the idea of brand associative networks is weU
accepted, rarely are these networks elicited and modeled explicitly.
Here, we do so in the context of a branding experiment by using a
combination of qualitative (repertory grid) and quantitative (net-
work analysis) techniques. This elicitation and analysis technique
was used prior to and after subjects saw an advertiseme nt for one of
three types of brand extensions for a popular core brand. Results
confirmed the usefulness of network ana lysis for identifying brand
association stm cture and assessing changes in brand associations as
a result of brand extension activity.
Recently, a new approach to understanding brand equity has
been introduced to the literature (Henderson, Iacobucci, and C alder
1998). In their paper, the authors present a conceptual frameworkto uncover ten brand ing effects based on brand associa tions (Keller
1993). In this paper, we put the Henderson, et al. (1998) framework
to an empirical test. We then m ap these 10 branding effects into
three branding constmc ts: positioning, complementarity, and sub-
stitutabiUty.
Below, we present a brief review of the consumer associative
network approach. We then pursue these conjectures with an
empirical test: Consumers were exposed to information about a
purported forthcoming brand extension. Consumers made judg-
ments of associative Unks and their perceptions are represented as
associative networks. Post-manipulation perceptions are compared
to those held prior to the intervention, and we examine the resultant
stmctures for brand constmcts.
CONSUMER ASSOCIATIVE NETWORKS
RepresentationIt is commonly held that consumers store information in
memory in the form of associative networks (Anderson and Bower
1973; Ellis and Hunt 1992). In general, researchers contend that
knowledge is represented as links of associations among concept
nodes (cf. Sirsi, Ward, and R eingen 1 996). The nodes are units of
information such as brands, attributes, advertisements, etc., and the
links contain the relational tie between the concepts (e.g., a brand
"possesses" much of an attribute, a brand image is "like" the
spokesperson). The links make various associations by connecting
nodes together to form a network of ideas, or a knowledge stm c-
ture. '
1 Associations in network representations of mental models can also
possess strengths, e.g., for an association based on many experi-
ences or exposures to communications. In a graph, strength is
indicated by the thickn ess of the Une, the number of links between
two nodes, or by a numerical indicator near the link.Asymmetrical
relations may also be represented if one node evokes another but
the reverse is not true. W e are presenting symm etric, binary ties for
the purpose of simplicity, though we note that aU that we present
is easily extended to ties w ith strength and direction using standard
network methods (e.g., Knoke and Kuklinski 1982).
Researchers in marketing have recently discussed brand asso-
ciations, primarily as they relate to issues of brand equity, brandimage, and brand know ledge (e.g., Keller 1993; Sirsi, et al. 1996).
Many cognitive theories of consumer behavior posit associative
network stmctures (e.g., Bettman 1971; Calder and Gmder 1989),
and yet rarely are they elicited or modeled empirically. It is
desirable to represent brand associations as networks in order to
allow these stmctural data to be modeled in a matuier most consis-
tent with existing theoretical views of consumer mem ory structure.
Elicitation
Consumer brand associations can be elicited by a variety of
data coUection methods including free association and response
(Green, Wind, and Jain 1973; Krishnan 1996), laddering (Reynolds
and Gutman 1988), and pairwise similarity judgm ents (Hauser andKoppelman 1979).^
In this research, we use a more qualitative method caUed the
repertory grid (Henderson, et al., 199 8; Kelly 19 55; Zaltman and
Coulter 1995). With the repertory grid technique, respondents
choose their own stimulus brands and the attributes that they
personaUy beUeve to be relevant for the comparisons.' We use the
repertory grid primarily because of its ability to bridge the gap
betwee n qualitative data coUection media and quantitative analy sis
techniques (Green, et al., 1973). Although the repertory grid tech-
nique has been mentioned previously in the marketing literature
(Sampson 1 972; Olson and Muderrisoglu 197 7), it has not received
much atten tion in terms of a primary m eans of data coUection until
recently (Henderson, et al. 1998; Zaltman and C oulter 1995).
BRAND CONSTRUCTS
Keller (1993) suggests that brand associations are the "build-
ing blocks" of a brand's equity. However, we posit more abstract
entities, or brand constructs, that comprise a b rand 's equity: posi-
tioning, complementarity, and substitutability. These brand con-
stmcts are comprised of branding effects (brand dUution, branded
features, co-branding , brand parity, brand confusion, and cannibal-
ization) that are in tum com prised of brand associations. The first
brand constmct, positioning, focuses on a particular brand (relative
to others) whereas the latter two, complementarity and substitut-
ability, focus on relationships between brands. We describe each
constmct and the m ethods by which each could be studied. Figure
2Due to the relative newness of associative netw orks to marketing,
we were tempted to make this paper be more tutorial in nature.
Although we did our best to make it read well for those not as
familiar with network approaches, we resisted making it a tutorial
on network methods in marketing in general, or consumer associa-
tive networks in particular, due to the existence of fairly compre-
hensive reviews on these methods. Interested readers are directed
to Iacobucci and Hopkins (1992) for the former and Henderson,
Iacobucci, and Calder (1998) or Krishnan (19 96) for m ore depth
on these methods.
3 A more detailed outline of the repertory grid technique and con-
sumer associative networks is presented in Henderson, Calder, and
Iacobucci (1998).397 Advances in ConsumerResearch
Volume 29 , © 2002
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FIGURE 1
Branding C onstructs, Branding Effects, and Associative Network Methods
Theoretical
Brand
Constructs...
Modeled
using
Associative
Network
Methods...
To Diagnose
Branding
Effects:
POSITIONING Centrality
BrandDilution
BrandedFeatures J
COMPLEMENTS Cohesion Co-Branding
SUBSTITUTES Equivalence
BrandParity
BrandConfusion
Cannibalization
1 presents the relationships between branding constructs, observ-
able branding effects, and associative networks.
g: Brand IMlHtitm/BniBded Features
A brand is positioned as having more good attributes and fewer
poor attributes relative to the other com petitive market offerings. If
a brand has a particularly strong and favorable heritage, the man-
ager may consider leveraging those positive associations by intro-
ducing a brand extension. The positive associations consum ers hold
for the parent brand a re thought to transfer to the new introduction
by the activation of the original brand name. T wo brand positioning
phenomena enjoying current popularity are "brand dilution" and
the "branding of features."
Brand dilution is the extent to which capitalizing on brand
associations (e.g., by introducing brand extensions) may harm the
original brand (Loken and John 1993). Brand dilution would be
demon strated most pointedly by a decrease in positive associations,
or an increase in negative associations with the focal brand. How-
ever, the category itself may be diluted (e.g., as when the c entralities
for positive attribute nodes decreas e, or those for negative attributes
increase). Branded features are attributes closely associated with
the host brand and are candidates to be further branded and
differentiated themselves. Candidates for branded features would
be those attributes high on centrality—those that are important to
the brand and category. With network methods, we could detect
changes in cognitive associations regarding the parent brand. In
particular, centrality indices may be used to verify that the links to
the focal brand are still positive and active.
Complem^i tery Brands: Co-Branding
Complementarity capitalizes on the associations between
brands, seeking, for example, opportunities for co-branding. Co-
branding effects include the use of ingredient brands or com posite
brand s. Ingredient brands can be used as a portion of some product
(e.g., an Intel Pentium Chip inside an IBM ThinkPad Notebook
Com puter, Starbucks coffee served aboard United Airlines flights),
whereas composite brands are the "bundling of two brands to
provide an enhanced consumer benefit or reduced cost" (e.g.,
Microsoft's and General Electric's MSNBC Cable/tntemet offer-
ing). Cohesion associative network method s offer empirical possi-
bilities for co-brand ing. Groups of attributes and brands defined on
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Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 29) 139 9
TABLE 1
Degree Centralities Pre- and Post- for all Three Brand-Extensions**
Economy
Pre- Post-
Family
Pre- Post-
Regular
Pre- Post-
Alfa
Benz
Chrysler
Ferrari
Jaguar
Jeep
Lamborghini
Lexus
Mazda
Porsche
Corvette
Porsche Model X
B R m S H - N O N B R I T
CLASSY-LESCLASS
COMMON-UNIOUEEURO-JAPAN
FASTER-SLOWER
FOREIGN-US
GERMAN-JAPAN
HIPRICE-LOPRICE
HIQUAL-LOQUAL
HISTATUS-LOSTATUS
JAPAN-NOTJAPAN
VARIETY-LESS
MATAPPL-YNGAPPL
SPORTY-VARIETY
TERRAIN-TWOWD
SEDAN-SPORTY
*The increases (+) and decreases (-) marked are those that exceeded 1.98 times the average standard deviation of the pre- and post-
conditions within each brand extension condition. A * indicates those that exceede d 1.98 times the average standard dev iation of the pre-
and post- conditions within each brand extension condition. For "economy " and "regular," the difference had to exceed 7 to be significant.
For "family," a difference of 5 was significant (s^ ^^y= 3.64, s,^,y=2.49, s^^^= 3.31).
***Attributes were rated on a continuum (e.g., German-Japanese) with Japanese receiving higher values than G erman. Thus, attribute
nodes should be read as possessing more of the value on the right (Japanese) than the value on the left (German). In other words, the node
German-Japanese could also be read as "More Japanese than G erman."
5
6
0
4
7
6
1
0
6
8
2
0
0
0
25
5
6
0
8
0
6
0
7
5
0
0
0
6
3
6+
5
4
7
1
0
3
7
4
7+
0
0
58
2
7
0
3-
0
0-
4+
6
0-
5+
6+
4+
2
10
0
3
5
7
5
10
8
8
0
0
0
8
105
5
5
6
10
0
5
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
11
0
3
2-
8
4
4-*
7
12+
0
9+
6+*
0-*
124
4
6
4
9
6+*
3
0
6+
0
0
0
2
6
14
0
5
11
6
4
0
7
10
7
0
0
1
178
9
6
0
9
0
6
0
7
6
0
0
0
7
8-
6+
7
4.*
10+
2
0
8
7
1-
9+
0
1
11-9
2-*
10+
0
8
3
0-
5+
5
0-
5+
6+
6+
their mutually connected associations would be fitting candidates
for opportunities to incorporate multiple brands. These groups
reflect stm ctures of a natural complem entarity of the products that
already exists in the consumer mind.
Substitutable Brands: Brand Parity, Brand Confusion, and
Cannibalization
Whereas complements are brands managers seek to package
together, substitutes are brands that compete with one another
(Aaker and Keller 1990). Substitutability includes brand parity,
brand confusion, and cannibalization. Brand parity is the percep-
tion of sameness among brands. Brand parity taken to extreme
yields brand confusion: brands are indistinguishable or commod-
ity-like, and the stimulation of one brand m ay evoke thoughts of
another (Kapferer 1995). Cannibalization occurs when one of a
firm's brands steals share away from another.
METHOD
Below, we describe an experiment in which we explore theeffect of the three Porsche brand extensions and the resultant bran d
associations in a pre-/post- design. Participants were graduate
students in marketing. A 3 (Brand Extension Type) x 2 (pre-/post-
extension response) mixed design was used. The Brand Extension
Type condition represented a between-subjects manipulation
whereas the pre-/post- condition was manipulated on a repeated
measures basis. Participants saw an advertisement for one of three
types of brand extensions: regular, family, or economy. They
comple ted the data task before and after being exposed to the brand
extension intervention.
We advertised Porsche as introducing one of three types of
brand extensions: For 17 participants, "Model X" was as an
economy car, featuring low price and good m ileage. For 15 partici-
pants, "Model X" was a family car with features relating to the
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40 0 / Using Network Analysis to Understand Brands
safety and comfort of a family of five (e.g., enlarged tmnk space,
built-in child seats, airbags, four-wheel drive, luggage racks).
Finally, 13 participa nts served as a control group and were told the
"Model X " was "everything you ever thought a Porsche to be " with
no new attributes featured.'' We chose two different extensions
(economy and family) to be consistent with extant literature on
brand extensions (e.g., Loken and John 1993). In the latter, for
instance, the authors introduce brand extensions that are 'cl ose,''med ium,' and 'far' from their parent brand. Thus, in our exercise,
the regular condition would be 'close,' the famDy condition would
be 'medium' and the 'economy' condition would be 'far.'
The 45 participants nam ed (up to) seven sports car brands and
compared them via triadic elicitation.'-' Respondents were asked:
"When you think about sports cars that you would like to own,
which ones come to mind? Please list seven [below] and assume
that money is not a major constra int." They were then provided with
seven blank lines to write in their brand names. As for the second
factor, participants com pleted their data collection task prior to an d
following the brand extension intervention. A multimedia cam-
paign was used: The new Porsche was announced through word-of-
mouth (a conversation excerpt), concept board (a print ad), expert
reviews (C onsume r Repo rts), and a news report (mock article fromthe Wall Street Joumal).
RESULTSEach respo ndent generated a list of cars and proceeded through
the triadic compa risons. A repertory grid matrix was generated for
each participant. Each of the participant's matrices consisted of
between 1 and 8 attributes and between three to seven cars. A
content ana lysis determined a comm on set of 29 attributes across all
respondents. Similariy, a list of 28 vehicles was elicited. For the
purpose of illustration, these lists were parsed down further to 12
cars and 16 attributes based on the agreemen t of at least 4 of the 45
respondents (10 percent of the sample).' We would normally
present visual depictions of these associative networks, however,
for the sake of space, we have included only the associa tive network
summary indices: centrality, cliques, and stmctural equivalents.
Centralities
Table 1 has the degree centralities before and after the inter-
ventions for each of the three brand extensions. Few significant
changes resulted from the advertising communications interven-
tion. The increases (+) and decreases (-) are those over 1.98 times
the average standard deviation of the pre- and post- conditions for
^Ironically, shortly after we had begun our research, Porsche
announced plans to develop and market a sports utility vehicle in
a co-venture arrangement with Mercedes. This announcementadded a dimension of tmth to our cover story; we debriefed
participants by providing them with the Wall Street Journal
article. However, we informed them that the brand names used
within the context of the experiment, including Porsche, were used
just for the sake of example and not because of any relationship
with the actual parent companies.
^Norma lly, a sample size of 45 would not be worthy of consideration
for experimental purposes. However, since this research actually
represents the quantification of otherwise qualitative data, a sample
of 45 is quite healthy.
6For a detailed description of triadic elicitation see Henderson, et al.
(1998).
^Resea rchers desiring fewer (or more) exploratory and idiosyncratic
results would m ove this criterion up (or down). We chose to err foridiosyncrasy and richness of results.
each brand extension condition. A * indicates those that exceeded
1.98 times the averse standard deviation of the pre- and post-
conditions within each brand extension condition. For "econom y"
and "reg ular," the difference had to exceed 7 to be significant. For
"family," a difference of 5 was significant
There were no significant changes in the economy condition.
In the family c ondition, there were significant cha nges to Lexus (-6) , "non-British" (+6), "less-classy" (-8), and "low-quality" (+6).
In the regular condition, there were significant c hanges to Jaguar (-
7) and Slower (-7).
Cliques
Cliques are the primary m easures of cohesion between nodes
in a network and are subgroups based on complete mutuality
(Knoke and Kuklinski 1982). Table 2 ha s the results on the cliques
that formed in the consumer association networks before and after
the manipulations.
There were 2 8 cliques in the pre-economy condition: 4 four-
member cliques and 24 three-member cliques. There were 11
cliques in the post-economy condition: 3 five-member cliques, 1
four-member clique, and 7 three-member cliques. There were 6three-mem ber cliques formed in the pre-family cond ition and none
in the post-family condition. There were 13 cliques formed in the
pre-regular condition: 3 four-member cliqu es and 10 three-member
cliques. The re were 16 cliques formed in the post-regttiar condition:
3 four-member cliques and 13 three-member cliques.
Equivalence Substitutes
Two nodes are stmcturally equivalent if they have identical
linkages to other network nodes (cf.., Hopkins, Henderson, and
Iacobucci 1995). Table 3 has the equivalence gr oupi i^s for these
six conditions. In the pre-economy condition, 3 groups were based
on stmctural equivalence. In all other conditions (post-economy,
pre-/post-family, and pre-/post-regular), 2 groups were formed.
D I S C U S S I O N
Brand Po^ti<miag
Brand Dilution. In the economy condition, there was no
evidence of brand dilution. On the contrary, brand enhancement
occun ed for C hrysler. Perhaps individuals exposed to the economy
version of the Model X by Porsche began to consider Chryder to be
a "sportier" brand if themost prrtotypical sports car manufacturer
(Porsche) was indeed entering the low-end m arket.
In the family condition, there was significant brand dilution:
fewer associations (4) were made to Lexus post- versus pre- family
Model Xb y Porsche. Since Lexus is known more for its sedans than
its coupes, it could be that those individuals w to elidt ed it prior tothe introduction of Model X, were less inclined to do so after the
intervention. That is, there was clearly a segment of consumers
(participants) for whom "sports car" represented sporty sedans
(e.g. , ii xu s, J s ^ a r) or even SUV's (e.g. . Jeep). However, once
they were made to believe that Porsche was entering in to this more
family-oriented market, they generated fewer associations to its
Japanese rival, Lexus.
In the regular condition, J^uar suffered significant brand
dilution along with insignificant losses to Mercedes Benz and
Corvette. Perh^)s the introduction of the regular Model X, which
was touted as "everything you ever expected a Porsche to be,"
reminded consumers of what a "sports car" w as really supposed to
be . Most subjects provided Porsche as one of their more top-of-
mind (or prototypical) "sports cars," and placed Mercedes, Jaguar,and Corvette farther down the list (if at all). However, surprising
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Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 29) 140 1
T A B L E 2
Cohesion Cliques of Associations
Clique
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Economy Condition
Pre
Benz Jaguar Mazda
Porsche
Benz Jaguar Mazda
classic
Benz Jaguar Corvette
Benz Jaguar less-variety
Benz Jeep Porsche
Benz Jeep classic
Benz Jeep faster
Benz European/German
faster
Benz Mazda faster
Benz faster less-variety
Benz faster sporty
Benz Porsche sporty
Ferrari Jeep faster
Ferrari Mazda faster
Ferrari faster less-variety
Ferrari faster sporty
Post
Benz Ferrari Jeep
Mazda Porsche
Benz Ferrari Jeep
Porsche MO DELX
Benz Ferrari less-variety
Benz Ferrari sedan
Benz non-Japanese
less-variety
Benz non-Japanese sedan
Jeep Lamborghini Mazda
common E uropean/
German foreign
high-price less-variety
common European/
German foreign sedan
comm on high-quality
less-variety
common high-quality
sedan
Family Con dition
Pre
Jaguar Mazda
Porsche
Jaguar Mazda
classic
Jaguar Mazda
common
Mazda common
foreign
Benz Jeep classic
faster high-price
less-variety
Post
na
na
na
na
na
na
Regular Condition
Pr e
Benz Lexus
Mazda common
Benz Mazda
common Non-
Japanese
Benz common
Non-Japanese
Benz Jeep
common
Benz Lexus
less-variety
Alfa Mazda
common
Alfa Jeepcommon
Ferrari Mazda
Japanese
Jaguar Mazda
Japanese
Lamborghini
Mazda
Non-Japanese
Lexus Mazda
common foreign
Lexus foreign
less-variety
common
non-Japanese
high-price
Post
Benz Lexus
Porsche
Benz Mazda
Porsche
Benz Jeep
Porsche
Benz Porsche
sedan
Benz
Lamboighini
less-variety
Benz
Lamborghini
sedan
Benz Mazdaless-variety
Mazda
common
less-variety
Ferrari Mazda
less-variety
Mazda com-
mon non-
Japanese less-
variety
Mazda com-
mon foreign
less-varietycotnmon high-
price less-
variety
common high-
quality less-
variety
Lexus com-
mon foreign
Lamborghini
high-price
less-variety
Lamborghini
high-price
sporty
17 Ferrari Jaguar Mazda
18 Ferrari Jagua r less-variety
19 comm on faster high-price
less-variety
20 Jeep comm on faster
21 Mazda comm on faster
22 comm on faster sporty
23 Jaguar Mazda classic common
24 Jaguar comm on less-variety
25 Jeep classic common
26 Mazda comm on foreign
27 comm on foreign less-variety28 European/German faster
high-price
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40 2 / Using Network A nalysis toUnderstand Brands
T A B L E 3
Equivalence of Groups of Competitive Sub stitutes
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wa s a marked inc rease , yet not significant, in the centrality of Jeepfrom the pre-regular to the post-regular condition. Perhaps sincethere were no atypical features of sports cars provided, and consum -ers ' minds were allowed to freely fioat to their perceived notions of"sports cars," Jeep w as allowed into their thinking upon repeatedrefiection.
Branded Features. Candidates for branded features would be
those attributes high on centrality—those that are important to the
brand and ca tegory. There were several changes in degree centrali-ties in the economy condition. Most notably, although not signifi-
cant, was the decre ase in low price associations. At first glance, this
might seem counter-intuitive for the economy condition. How ever,
it actually makes sense since our manipulation was for an $11,000
sports car by Porsche. Prior to the intervention, participants were
probably anchoring on much higher reference prices as being
"low." However, after being exposed to $ 11,000, they updated their
priors to refiect a new understanding of what "low" might really
me an. In addition, four attributes increased, again not significantly
so , from the pre- to post- economy conditions: "Not Japanese,"
"Variety not Sport," Two Wheel Drive Not All Terrain," and
"Sporty not Se dan." It is not clear whether any of these would be
candidates for branded features as previously suggested.
Several changes to the perception of the sports car categoryoccurred afier the introduction of the family Model X. There were
increase s in percep tions of "classy " (less classy decreased from 8 to
0) , "non -British", and "low quality." Oddly enough, but not
significant, was the increased centrality of "less variety," perhaps
due hi part to our strong intervention that listed so many features
(e.g., enlarged tmnk sp ace, built-in child seats, airbags, four-wheel
drive, luggage rac ks) that the consum er may have thought that there
were no additional options available, hence "less variety" for this
family car. Since neither the economy nor regular conditions
offered as many features, the consumer was more likely to assume
that other options were available.
Since the regular cond ition functioned like a control group, it
might appear odd to see any changes between pre- and post-intervention networks. However, there was still a new Porsche
introduced and this introduction helped to create new associations
("non-Japanese," "Variety," "Two Wheel Drive," and "sporty")
that did not exist prior to exposure to the intervention. In add ition,
some attributes that were highly central prior to the new car
introduction, lost favor in hght of the new entrant to the category:
"unique " and "slower." "Uniq ue" probably decreased in centrality
due to the insistence by our intervention that the Model X was
"everything you have come to expect from a P orsche." On the other
hand, "slower" significantly decreased because most consumers
have come to associate Porsche with speed. By adding another
typical Porsche to the set of brand n odes, there was an upda te to the
set of attributes associated with those sets of brands.
Complementarity: Co-BrandingIn this section, we present the netwo rk findings from the pre-
/ post- experimenta l design for all three brand extens ions. We beg in
by describing the brands that are cohesive (associated) and then
proceed to examine those that are equivalent (similar). The cliques
in Table 2 are based on a large dataset and thus, the results are fairiy
complex, so they are worth explaining here.
A first observation is that for the true brand extensions (economy
and family), the number of cliques decreased from pre- to post
manipulation. This finding suggests that the information in the
comm unication became the focus of the consumer perception the
marketing intervention clarified and simplified the associative
network (at least in the short-term). The number of cliques re-
mained the same in the regular (control) condition, and if anything.
Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 29) / 40 3
increased slightly, as if participants were elaborating on their own
individual thoughts when given no tmly new information.
In the pre- economy co ndition's cliques 1-4, there were four
associations between Benz and Jaguar. Mazda joins this group
twice, and Corve tte and Porsche are each activated once, indicating
peripheral brands to the core Benz-Jaguar associative link. In the
second clique are less traditional cars, while the fourth clique
suggests the perception that Benz and Jaguar are manufacturers of
a fuller line, a variety of cars, not just the sports cars beingconsidered and compared to Porsche.
We summarize these cliques, looking for the qualities theyhave in common (i.e., factoring the cliques for their common andunique associations). Cliques 1-4 identify a core set of {Benz,Jaguar, Mazda} associations. Cliques 5-7 contain Benz, Jeep,classic, and faster. Cliques 8-12 describe the Benz as fast and sportywhile cliques 13-18 associate Ferrari with fast. Cliques 20-28describe both Jeeps and Mazdas as fast sports cars with commonshapes.
After describing the economy Porsche, the clique stmcture
changed quite a bit. The Ben z-Jaguar wa s activated less frequently.
Instead, cliques 1-4 show a connection between the brands: Benz,
Ferrari, Jeep, and the regular Porsche and its new M odel X. C liques
5 and 6 classify Benz and non-Japanese together—a focus on
European makes. Similariy cliques 8 and 9 contrast European/
German with American, together with the attribute of common
shape. Finally, cliques 10 and 11 describe that common shape is
associated with perceptions of high quality.
In the pre-family condition, cliques 1-4 indicate a conne ction
between Jaguar and Mazda and the quality of common shape.
Clique 5 connects Benz and Jeep with classic, and clique 6 shows
activations among faster, high price, and less variety (a high-end
focused product line).
No cliques were found after the intervention. The family
Porsche was described with a large number of qualities that were
indeed difficult to reconcile with the status of a sports car, including
leg room, full seating capacity, tmnks, and bike racks etc., soperhaps the communication so sufficiently confused the consumer
that they had not yet had time to reconvene sensible associations.
Recall the centrality results that many changed associations were
occurring in the minds of these consumers. Evidently dyadic
associations were being formed and destroyed, but as yet, cliques
(groups of three or more nodes) had not yet firmed up . At this point,
when "sports car" was activated, it now brought along m any weird
new associations, none of which had yet been strongly assimilated
into the sports car category, hen ce yielding no cliqued associations.
For the regular Porsche con dition, cliques 1-5 showed similar-
ity to the associations in the pre- cond itions of the other cells (i.e.,
Benz and Mazda and comm on shape were a ssociated). Cliques 6
and 7 emphasize the uniqueness of the Alfa Rom eo. Cliques 8 -10
characterized the Mazda as a Japanese make , and cliques 11 and 12associate Lexus and non-American.
After consumers thought about Porsches, the cliques lookedonly somewhat different. Cliques 1-6 connected Benz to Porsche,and to a lesser extent, Lamborghini and sedans. Cliques 7-13described the Mazda as a car with common shape made by amanufacturer that produces a small variety of cars. Lastly thecliques 16 and 17 connect the Lamborghini and high price nodes.
SubstitutabUity
BrandParity/Confusion/Cannibalization. As previously me n-tioned. Table 3 contains the equivalence groupings for these sixcond itions. Where as the number of cliques usually got sma ller post-intervention, the number of stmctural equivalents increased pre- to
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40 4 / Using Network Analysis to Underhand Brands
post- intervention. Th e brands and attributes that do not specifically
appear in these ch arts are those that form on e larger group, sim ilar
in structure by default by not being highly interconnected to other
network nodes.
In the pre-economy condition, M azda, Jaguar, and Jeep were
the most similar interchangeable brands. The attributes of non-
Japanese and common shape were seen as similar. Less-variety and
faster were also attributes that factored together as similar, which is
also sensible given that several auto manufacturers were included
in the network w ith specialties in sports cars.
After introdudng the inexpensive Porsche, the brands and
attributes perceived to be similar change somewhat. Mazda and
Jeep are now grouped with Ferrari. Jaguar is grouped with Chrysler.
The attributes of non-Japanese and common shape still correlate,
and now less-variety joins the cluster.Finally, sedan bodies are seen
to be similar to the quality of high price.
In the family equivalence groups, there are again similarities
among Jaguar, Benz, Mazda, and Jeep. There are also similarities
between the attributes of less-variety and common shape, and non-
Japanese and fast. After the introduction of a big, bulky family
Porsche, respondents cluster together {non-Japanese, less-variety,
sedan}, {Corvette, Mazda}, and {Chrysler, Jaguar, Ferrari}.Finally, in the pre-regular condition, again, we see some
concordance with the pre- perceptions in the other conditions:
Mazda and Jeep are similar, as are fast, non-Japanese, and less-
variety, and finally comm on shape is grouped w ith cla ssic After
simply thinking more about Porsches, Benz is grouped with rela-
tively high prices, Ma zda and Jeep retain their similarity, and Lexus
is grouped with fast and high status. Less-variety and sedan are
grouped, as well as the group of non-Japan ese and British (presum-
ably in contrast to American and European makes).
The findings on the cliques and equivalence groups were not
as simple and clear, as we would have liked. However, they
demonstrated the richness and variety of the connections that
consumers have in their minds when considering and com paring
brands.
SUMMARY
Our goal was to employ consumer associative networks for the
purpose of uncovering the brand constructs of positioning,
complementarity, and substitutability. We began by discussing the
nature of consumer brand associations—responses that are evoked
when consumers think about brands. E xisting cognitive theories of
associative stmctures were connected to existing literature on
stmctural networks for the purposes of representing consumer
brand associations.
Associative networks were compared in a pre- / post- design
during which respondents were exposed to mock advertising litera-
ture describing one of three hypothetical brand extensions. Theassociative networks draw from individual's free association re-
sponses (i.e., listing their own relevant stimu lus consideration sets)
and from tdadic comparisons that generate multiple attributes that
distinguish among the brands. Given the qualitative and idiosyn-
cratic natu re of the data collection proc edure, it is not surprising that
the resulting associative netw orks were at times fairly comp lex. Of
greater importance is the ability of networks to distinguish brands
that are associated, and therefore candidates for complementary
brand action such as co-branding, from bran ds that are similar, and
therefore substitutable competitors in the minds of the consumers.
Future Directions. Future research might include replication
across non-automotive categories and elicitation and representa-
tion using theories of other knowledge stmctures. In terms of the
former, we believe that automobiles were a product category ripewith instances of possibilities for the study of branding co nstructs.
With that being said, future research could perhaps pursue other
categories to see if they are as conducive to the study of brand
constmcts.
There are many different forms of knowledge structures that
could have been employed for the purpose of uncovering the
various branding constmcts. More traditional methods bases on
spatial representation such as MDS would be one option. It is our
belief that consumer associative networks would prove superior to
these approaches because of their tolerance of idiosyncratic re-
sponses. One of the primary differences between M DS and Con-
sumer Associative Networks is that MDS operates using researcher-
driven stimuli (brands) whereas the stimuli (brands) used in Con-
sumer Associative Networks are consumer-driven. Thus, in the
MDS example, it would have been impossible to uncover the
association that consumers made between sports cars and what we
consider to be sports utility vehicles unless the researcher had
included an SUV brand in the pairwise sim ilarities task given to the
participants. What makes the associative network approach so rich
is its ability to uncover associations such as these that would be
counter-intuitive to researchers. It would be of interest to test this
empirically. For the present, at the least, we wished to begin to
demonstrate the utility of the consumer associative networks'utility as an approach to begin to start addressing the many ques-
tions that might be asked regardingbrandingconstmc ts. W e believe
that we have begun to make progress on this venture.
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