Does Brand Experience Affect Consumer's Emotional Attachments?

브랜드의 총체적 체험이 소비자-브랜드의 정서적 유대관계에 미치는 영향

Brand experience has received much attention from considerable marketing research. When consumers consume and use brands, they are exposed to various specific brand-related stimuli. These brand-related stimuli include brand identity and brand communications(e.g., colors, shapes, designs, slogans, mascots, brand characters) components. Brakus, Schmitt, and Zarantonello(2009) conceptualized brand experience as subjective and internal consumer responses evoked by brand-related stimuli. They demonstrated that brand experience can be broken down into four dimensions(sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral). Because experiences result from stimulations and lead to pleasurable outcomes, we expect consumers to want to repeat theses experiences. That is, brand experiences, stored in consumer memory, should affect brand loyalty. Consumers with positive experiences should be more likely to buy a brand again and less likely to buy an alternative brand(Fournier 1998; Oliver 1997). Brand attachment, one of dimensions of the consumer-brand relationship, is defined as an emotional bond to the specific brand(Thomson, MacInnis, and Park 2005). Brand attachment is target-specific bond between the consumer and the specific brand. Thus, strong attachment is attended by a rich set of schema that link the brand to the consumer. Previous researches propose that brand attachments should affect consumers' commitment to the brand. Brand experience differs from affective construct such as brand attachment. Brand attachment is based on interaction between a consumer and the brand. In contrast, brand experience occurs whenever there is a direct and indirect interaction with the brand. Furthermore, brand experience is not an emotional relationship concept. Brakus et al.(2009) suggest that brand experience may result in brand attachment. This study aims to distinguish brand experience dimensions and investigate the effects of brand experience on brand attachment and brand commitment. We test research problems with data from 265 customers having brand experiences in various product categories by using multiple regression and structural equation model. The empirical results can be summarized as follows. First, the paths from affective, behavior, and intellectual experience to the brand attachment were found to be positively significant whereas the effect of sensory experience to brand attachment was not supported. In the consumer literature, sensory experiences for consumers are often equated with aesthetic pleasure. Over time, these pleasure experiences can affect consumer satisfaction. However, sensory pleasures are not linked to attachment such as consumers' strong emotional bond(i.e., hot affect). These empirical results confirms the results of previous studies. Second, brand attachment including passion and connection influences brand commitment positively but affection does not influence brand commitment. In marketing context, consumers with brand attachment have intention to have a willingness to stay with the relationship. The results also imply that consumers' emotional attachment is characterized by a set of brand experience dimensions and consumers who are emotionally attached to the brand are committed. The findings of this research contribute to develop differences between brand experience and brand attachment and to provide practical implications on the brand experience management. Recently, many brand managers have focused on short-term view. According to this study, we suggest that effective brand experience management requires taking a long-term view of marketing decisions.

소비자체험에 대해 기업들과 학자들이 많은 관심을 가져 왔지만 브랜드로부터 유발된 총체적인 체험에 대해서는 제한적으로 연구가 진행되어 오고 있다. 구매의사결정의 모든 과정에서 다양한 체험이 이루어질 뿐만 아니라 브랜드 아이덴티티와 브랜드 커뮤니케이션과 같은 브랜드 체험제공 수단들을 통해서도 소비자체험이 유발될 수 있음에도 불구하고 이러한 총체적인 체험에 대한 논의가 부족하였다. 따라서 본 연구는 기존 문헌들을 토대로 브랜드 체험을 개념화하고 브랜드 체험의 유형을 고찰하고자 하였다. 또한 브랜드의 총체적 체험은 소비자와 브랜드의 정서적 유대관계에 영향을 미칠 것이라 가정하고 그 효과를 규명하고자 하였으며, 브랜드 애착이 브랜드 몰입에 미치는 효과도 함께 검증하였다. 연구결과에 의하면 브랜드 체험의 네 가지 유형 가운데 감성적 체험, 행동적 체험, 그리고 지성적 체험이 브랜드 애착에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며 특히 행동적 체험의 영향력이 가장 높은 것으로 밝혀졌다. 반면 브랜드의 감각적 체험은 브랜드 애착에 유의한 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 브랜드 애착의 열정과 자아연관은 브랜드 몰입에 유의한 영향을 미친 반면에 애정은 브랜드 몰입에 유의한 영향을 미치지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 실증분석을 바탕으로 소비자와 브랜드간의 강력한 정서적 유대관계를 형성하기 위해서는 소비자들이 브랜드로부터 감성적, 행동적, 그리고 지성적 체험을 경험해야 하는 것으로 해석할 수 있다. 또한 소비자들이 체험 브랜드와의 관계를 유지하기 위한 의지를 형성하기 위해서는 애정과 자아연관으로 구성된 애착이 선행되어야 함을 알 수 있다.