Customer and Brand Relations: Delicia and Sonic Automobiles

Customer and Brand Relations: Delicia and Sonic Automobiles

Introduction

In today's modern era, customers are surrounded by different brands 24/7. However, with the usage of certain brands, the customer feels an innate connection and relationship with it. Fournier (1998) explains that a series of repeated exchanges between two parties constitutes an emotional relationship, and they evolve in response to these communications. In order to have a better understanding of whether customers actually form a relationship with brands or if it is just a hypothetical assumption, an understanding of the related factors is required.

Discussion

Journey from a Brand to a Partner

Brand

A brand refers to the identity created with respect to a physical product or service. This identity is then used to relate the product's characteristics with the brand name. Therefore, a brand offers customers a promise to deliver the related set of values; and the key to a brand's success lies in delivering that value to the customers (Malonis, 2002).

Positioning

Positioning refers to holding a profitable and credible “position” in the mind of the customer. The positioning process starts with a product including a service, a piece of merchandize, an institution or even an individual. It is then placed in the customer's psyche either by being the first of its kind, relating with the Competitor's Product or by completely repositioning the Product's profile. Therefore, positioning is what is done to the Prospect's mind rather than the Product (Thompson, 2004).

Relationship

A customer's relationship with a brand can be seen through the level of brand trust, commitment and identification present. As a result, Consumer behavior has been affected through the level of love and attachment with the associated brand (Albert et al., 2008).

Fournier's View about Customer Brand Relationship

Susan Fournier (1998) has done extensive research regarding the relations consumers form with different brands. She has used multiple terms to identify and define the probable relationship. The most prominent of these is referring to the brand as a relationship partner.

Although critics quote that a brand cannot be a partner due to its inanimate and nonliving characteristics, Fournier (1998) disagrees by legitimizing the brand as a partner through highlighting ways in which brands are personalized, humanized or in some ways animated and how they become a part of customer's daily lives only because of the little values they add.

Choice of Brands

The two brands chosen are of a hypothetical fast food chain brand and an automobile brand of luxurious cars. The fast food chain is providing food of top notch quality with a lavish environment that takes the customer away to a new world of relaxation and comfort. On the other hand, the automobile company is manufacturing cars that make the customer feel royal and magnificent.

Delicia Fast Food Chain

Fast food chains are all about product quality and experience. When one goes to a fast food restaurant on a routine basis, he/she finds that they are certain customers who are always present in the restaurant. These aforementioned faces are not an incident, but are the result of ...