Brand anthropomorphism and its impact on consumer brand identification, brand advocacy and consumer brand engagement on social media

• Autor(a) principal: Ferreira, Juliana Correa
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do FGV (FGV Repositório Digital)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/10438/28996
• topic: Brand; Marketing; Brand anthropomorphism; Consumer brand identification; Brand advocacy; Consumer brand engagement; Marcas; Antropomorfismo de marca; Identificação com a marca; Engajamento do consumidor com a marca; Advocacia de marca; Administração de empresas; Antropomorfismo; Marca registrada; Comportamento do consumidor; Marcas - Marketing

Anthropomorphism has been for long known as a phenomenon that is enrooted in mankind’s history. Its presence and importance are undeniable as it has been noticed in several fields, ranging from religion to marketing. In marketing, Brand Anthropomorphism has been for long used by marketing professionals in brand positioning strategies and as a key resource to instigate identification and establishment of meaningful relationships between consumers and brands. Among others, successfully implementing Brand Anthropomorphism strategies may lead to Consumer Brand Identification, Brand Advocacy and Consumer Brand Engagement. Not only these concepts have been proved by other scholars to be somehow related to one another, but they have also obtained increasing attention of marketers as they were found to enable brands to build open ended relationships with their consumers as well to increase valuable collaboration between the two parts. Given that the way consumers connect with each other and with brands in this data driven era has evolved at a global scale, being able to reach and interact with a broader audience in a significant way and at multiple levels becomes crucial. Hence, this study aimed to understand if Brand Anthropomorphism could have an influence on Consumer Brand Identification, Brand Advocacy and Consumer Brand Engagement on social, but also, having Consumer Brand Identification as a mediator in the relationship with the last two. By running a survey among 300 consumers, it was found that Brand Anthropomorphism does have a positive influence on all the others constructs that compose the proposed framework and that Consumer Brand Identification might as well have a role as a mediator. The present study contributes significantly with the existing literature and provides as well guidance to brands that aspire to stand-out among its consumers in a constantly evolving digital driven business context. The findings strongly suggest that brands invest in their social media platforms presence as well as in a humanized communication style as a way to trigger anthropomorphism among its audience.