International Journal of Market Research Vol.

53 Issue 2

Associative networks
A new approach to market segmentation
Cline Brandt and Charles Pahud de Mortanges
HEC-ULg Management School University of Liege

Christian Bluemelhuber Allard C.R. van Riel

Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen

This.paper.aims.to.expand.the.domain.of.brand.image.perception.measurement. by. providing. a. method. for. eliciting. brand. associative. networks. and. comparing. it. with. traditional. brand. image. measurement. methods .. This. paper. then. argues. that. these. networks. may. differ. from. one. individual. to. another,. depending. on. the.cultural.background.and/or.the.experience.with.the.brand ..Accordingly,.the. authors.introduce.a.methodology.of.clustering.consumers.with.similar.perceptions. into. distinct. segments,. which. can. be. targeted. differently .. Using. picture. analysis. and.metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques,.Liptons.Ice.Tea.brand.associations.are. extracted. and. utilised. as. an. input. for. the. creation. of. 160. individual. associative. networks .These. networks. are. first. aggregated. to. measure. the. brand. reputation. and.subsequently.clustered.into.six.segments ..This.paper.provides.clear.arguments. for.using.associative.networks.as.the.preferred.method.to.capture.the.complete. brand. image .. The. paper. discusses. implications. of. perceptual. segmentation. for. image.management,.brand.positioning,.perceptual.competition.analysis.and.brand. communication .

Introduction
Following.the.majority.of.cognitive.psychologists,.brand.researchers.believe. that. brand. information. is. organised. as. a. network. in. consumer. memory. (Collins. &. Quillian. 1969;. Collins. &. Loftus. 1975;. Tversky. 1977) .. Such. networks,. which. consist. of. associations. like. product. features,. logos. and. usage. situations,. and. associative. links. (Solomon. 2006),. show. the. unique. value. of. branded. goods. and. services. to. consumers. (Aaker. 1996) .. The.

Received.(in.revised.form):.29.April.2010

2011 The Market Research Society DOI: 10.2501/IJMR-53-2-187-208

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graphical.representation.of.such.a.brand.memory.is.called.a.brand.concept. map.(BCM).(Roedder.John et al ..2005) . Although. BCMs. have. been. discussed. in. the. marketing. literature. since. the. 1990s. (Higie. Coulter. &. Zaltman. 1994;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996;. Elliot. et al. 2003;. Carbonara. &. Scozzi. 2006),. mapping. methods. and. their.applications.are.still.in.their.infancy ..They.were.developed.not.only. to. analyse,. but. also. to. manage. brand. identity. and. brand. knowledge .. This. requires. improved. methods. that. illustrate. the. real. brand. as. being. perceived.by.the.customer,.and.that.are.easy.to.use ..Important.ideas.and. techniques. have. been. suggested. by. Roedder. John et al .. (2006),. and. by. Henderson.et al..(1998),.who.pioneered.quantitative.mapping.techniques. and.showed.the.link.to.brand.equity . Our.paper.follows.this.important.research,.and.adds.one.interesting.and. important.aspect:.we.try.to.broaden.the.scope.of.using.BCM.techniques,. using. it. to. segment. the. market .. Based. on. studies. that. have. discussed. the. influences.of.brand.experience.(Bird.et al. 1970;.Ross et al ..1971;.Ginter. &. Bass. 1972;. Barwise. &. Ehrenberg. 1985;. Alba. &. Marmorstein. 1987;. Gaeth et al .. 1997;. Brengman. et al. 2001;. Anchor. &. Kourilova. 2009),. gender. (Bird et al .. 1970;. Bailey. 2005;. Mitchell. et al. 2005;. Sawyerr. &. Strauss. 2005;. Wolin. &. Korgaonkar. 2005;. Bain. &. Rice. 2006),. personal. involvement. (Jacoby. et al. 1978;. Clarke. &. Belk. 1979;. Bolfing. 1988;. Brengman et al .. 2001). and. brand. awareness. (Brengman et al .. 2001). on. brand.perception,.and.have.shown.that.different.subgroups.of.consumers. may. have. different. brand. perceptions,. we. will. introduce. a. segmentation. technique.that.uses.brand.perceptions.as.its.main.criteria .

Literature review Brand image measurement techniques

In.the.literature,.qualitative.and.quantitative.methods.are.used.to.measure. brand.image.perception . Several. qualitative. techniques. have. been. developed. to. elicit. brand. associations .. These. are. defined. as. all. brand-related. thoughts,. feelings,. perceptions,. images,. experiences,. beliefs,. attitudes. that. become. linked. to. the. brand. node. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2006,. p .. 745) .. Marketers. use. free association tasks,.asking.respondents.what.comes.to.mind.when.they.think. of. a. certain. brand. (Gree. &. Srinivasan. 1990) .. Projective techniques,. like. comparison.tasks.(Vriens.&.Frazier.2003).or.interpretation.tasks,.are.used. when.consumers.are.reluctant.to.express.their.feelings ..Brand personality,

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i .e ..the.specific.mix.of.human.traits.that.may.be.attributed.to.a.particular. brand. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2006,. p .. 745), is. also. used. to. measure. brand. image.through.open-ended.questions.(Swait et al ..1993).or.ratings.of.the. Big.Five,.a.scale.of.five.factors.developed.by.Aaker.(1997).to.assess.the. brands.personality ..Multidimensional.scaling.is.also.used.to.understand.the. beliefs.about.a.brand.and.the.dimensions.that.underline.these.perceptions .. However,.contrary.to.cognitive.network.theories.describing.each.concept. with.nodes.and.links,.all.these.techniques.do.not.consider.the.brand.image.as. a.network,.and.focus.instead.on.the.dyadic.relationship.of.an.attribute.with. a.brand ..Therefore,.these.measurement.methods.do.not.emphasise.which. attributes. are. directly. or. indirectly. linked. to. the. brand,. which. attributes. are.core.associations.and.non-core.associations,.and.which.associations.are. linked.together.and.therefore.interdependent.(Roedder.John et al ..2005) .. Cognitive.network.theories.assume.that.the.structure.of.the.elicited.map. reveals.the.inherent.relationships.between.the.associations.and.the.brand. as. represented. in. a. persons. memory. (Joiner. 1998) .. According. to. the. spreading.activation.theory.(Anderson.1983),.recall.of.information.is.made. through.the.activation.of.one.node.and.this.activation.spreads.from.that. node.to.other.nodes.connected.to.it.in.memory ..The.spread.of.activation. depends.on.the.distance.and.the.strengths.of.the.link.(Anderson.1983) . Promising.in.this.regard.are.the.existing.qualitative.mapping.techniques,. based. on. cognitive. network. theory,. where. attributes. are. either. directly. elicited. from. the. consumer. (consumer. mapping). or. produced. using. analytical.methods.(analytical.mapping) ..An.example.is.Zaltman.Metaphor. Elicitation.Technique.(ZMET).(Zaltman.1997),.which.uses.multiple.verbal. and. non-verbal. qualitative. attribute. elicitation. methods. to. emphasise. subconscious. attributes .. Using. qualitative. concept. maps,. associations. are. elicited.and.mapped.at.the.same.time,.allowing.great.flexibility.in.the.data. collection. and. efficient. use. of. time .. However,. the. variety. of. associations. elicited. does. not. permit. any. aggregation. procedure,. which. requires. standardisation .. Quantitative. mapping. techniques. are. potentially. more. effective.in.this.regard . While. qualitative. techniques. only. uncover. the. types. of. beliefs. making. up. the. brand. image,. quantitative. techniques. focus. on. their. contribution. to. brand. equity. through. measurement. of. strengths,. favourability. and. uniqueness. (Keller. 2003a) .. If. we. focus. on. the. associations,. the. strength. of. brand. associations. is. obtained. through. the. rating. of. several. brands. (Kardes. 2002) .. As. a. uniqueness. measure,. brand sensitivity,. measured. by. the.number.of.persons.who.recognise.the.brand,.is.considered.as.a.proxy. for. brand. uniqueness. (Kapferer. &. Laurent. 1988) .. Several. brands. can.

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also.be.represented.in.the.multidimensional.space.using.multidimensional scaling. (MDS),. which. is. a. tool. that. transforms. similarity. measures. into. distances . However,. like. most. of. the. qualitative. measures,. these. quantitative. measures. focus. on. the. dyadic. relationship. between. the. brand. and. an. attribute,. without. taking. into. account. the. network. nature. of. the. brand. image .. Thus,. if. we. want. to. know. if. the. attributes. are. core. or. not,. or. which.attributes.are.first-.or.second-order.attributes,.or.the.types.of.link. between.attributes,.a.network.technique.would.fit.better ..In.view.of.these. impediments,.a.new.qualitative.method.of.measuring.brand.image.has.been. developed,. based. on. knowledge. structures. in. psychology .. This. approach,. first. proposed. by. Roedder. John et al .. (2005),. pioneered. a. valid. and. reliable. quantitative. mapping. technique,. namely brand concept mapping (BCM),. which. offers. structure. at. each. stage,. ease. of. administration. and. aggregation.procedures,.no.need.for.special.expertise,.and.flexibility.in.the. collection.method ..However,.this.technique.is.still.in.its.infancy.and.needs. to.be.broadened ..There.is.a.clear.lack.of.empirical.research.on.quantitative. concept.mapping.techniques.and.their.applications.in.branding .

Associative network theories

Based.on.the.fundamental.ideas.of.Collins.and.Quillian.(1969).and.Collins. and.Loftus.(1975),.we.assume.that.the.structure.of.a.concept.map.reveals. the. inherent. content. (concepts. and. their. associations). and. relationships. (links.between.concepts.and.associations).represented.in.a.persons.mind. (Joiner.1998) . Researchers.that.have.used.this.technique.in.marketing.(Bird et al ..1970;. Pohlman. &. Mudd. 1973;. Green. &. Devita. 1977;. Boivin. 1986;. Dobni. &. Zinkhan.1990;.MacKay.&.Easley.1996;.Elliot et al ..2003;.Carbonara.&. Scozzi. 2006). apply. methods. that. either. (1). ask. consumers. to. construct. the.network.(consumer.mapping).or.(2).use.analytical.methods,.to.build.a. network.of.brand.associations.that.were.elicited.from.consumers.(network. analysis) . The. best-known. technique. designed. to. understand. cognitive. structures. or. mental. models. is. the. ZMET. (1994),. which. combines. visual. and. narrative.aspects,.and.consists.of.three.steps,.namely.elicitation,.mapping. and. aggregation .. During. the. elicitation. stage,. 15. persons. are. recruited. and. the. topic. is. introduced .. Then,. participants. collect. 12. pictures. about. the. topic. to. prepare. a. two-hour. interview. that. will. take. place. ten. days. later .. During. this. interview,. participants. will. be. asked. to. tell. stories.

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about.the.pictures.and.to.sort.the.pictures ..As.a.result,.constructs.will.be. elicited. using. the. repertory. grid. method. and. laddering. process .. During. the.mapping.stage,.respondents.are.asked.to.create.a.map.illustrating.the. connections. among. important. constructs .. Finally,. during. the. aggregation. stage,.data.are.codified.and.constructs.are.chosen.regarding.how.frequently. they.are.mentioned ..ZMETs.main.strength.is.its.ability.to.reveal.personal. feelings,. irrationality,. illogical. behaviour. and. repressed. attitudes,. which. are.hard. to.obtain.through.conventional.interview.techniques. (Pellemans. 1999) ..On.the.other.hand,.the.ZMET,.and.especially.its.elicitation.stage,.is. very.labour-intensive ..Interviewers.must.be.thoroughly.trained.in.cognitive. psychology,. while. respondents. must. be. willing. and. able. to. participate. in. two.interviews.and.in.the.creation.of.the.brand.concept.map ..Up.to.now,. those.maps,.which.are.the.main.outcome.of.studies.using.ZMET,.have.been. analysed.qualitatively . Henderson et al .. (1998). and. Roedder. John et al .. (2005). were. among. the.first.to.develop.quantitative.tools.that.capture.the.brand.image ..Those. methods.are.easier.to.administer,.with.fewer.labour-intensive.processes.in. the.elicitation.and.aggregation.stage,.and.procedures.that.do.not.require. specialised.expertise.and.training.for.interviewers ..Roedder.Johns.method. enables. firms. to. capitalise. on. existing. brand. research. (replacing. the. classical. elicitation. stage). and. allow. data. collection. from. larger. sample. sizes. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005) .. The. main. weakness. of. these. methods. (compared.with.ZMET),.however,.is.the.emphasis.on.the.conscious.parts. of.brand.evaluation ..Therefore,.we.suggest.combining.the.strengths.of.the. quantitative.methods.with.the.elicitation.stage.of.ZMET.(picture.analysis. and. metaphor-based. elicitation. techniques),. which. enables. the. researcher. to.elicit.also.hidden,.unconscious.information .

Market segmentation in terms of brand image perception

Market. segmentation. and. product. positioning. are. major. strategic. issues. in. companies .. Traditionally,. consumers. are. grouped. into. segments. based. on. demographic,. behavioural. or. psychographic. data. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2005) .. Once. subgroups. have. been. identified,. managers. can. improve. their. marketing. efforts. by. more. closely. approximating. the. need. of. each. subgroup .. However,. recently,. some. authors. have. suggested. that. consumers.may.differ.in.their.brand.image.perceptions.depending.on.their. culture,. or. subculture. (Gonzales-Arce. 1975;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996),. and. their. experience. with. the. brand. (Alba. &. Marmorstein. 1987;. Keller. &. Staelin. 1987;. Brengman et al .. 2001;. Law. 2002) .. Only. a. few. authors.

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(Gonzales-Arce. 1975;. Gensch. 1978;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996;. Buchta. et al. 2000). have. investigated. market. segmentation. in. terms. of. brand. perception,.comparing.perceptions.of.several.brands.on.a.limited.number. of.dimensions ..However,.these.methods.(multidimensional.scaling).do.not. take.into.account.all.the.brand.associations.and.the.connections.between. them . Considering.the.implications.for.positioning,.image,.communication. strategies,.brand.equity.management.and.perceptual.competition.analysis,. we.propose.to.further.expand.and.advance.the.BCM.method.and.cluster. the.network.data.to.reveal.segments.with.different.brand.perceptions .

Methodology
We. will. present. our. methodology. by. applying. it. to. one. special. case:. Lipton. Ice. Tea .. We. have. chosen. that. brand. for. three. reasons .. First,. it. is. a. well-known. brand. with. a. wide. variety. of. associations. and. distinct. user.segments ..Second,.we.had.direct.access.to.proprietary.data.from.the. producer.of.Lipton.Ice.Tea.(Unilever) ..Finally,.Lipton.Ice.Tea.seemed.to.be. heterogeneously.perceived.in.the.Belgian.market.(according.to.the.Lipton. brand.manager) . For.using.the.segmentation.in.terms.of.brand.perception,.we.developed. a.five-step.process,.which.is.summarised.in.Figure.1 .

Step 1: selection of the associations

Individuals.are.asked.to.create.individual.brand.maps ..They.are.provided. with.cards.that.contain.brand.attributes/brand.associations.and.are.asked. in. a. first. step. the. following. question:. Considering. the. brand. and. the. associations.listed.on.the.cards,.what.comes.to.mind.when.you.think.about. this.brand?.Respondents.are.allowed.to.select.as.many.cards.as.they.wish . The.associations.are.selected.through.two.different.sources:.an.internal. source.and.an.external.source ..As.an.internal.source,.the.brand.manager. provided. us. with. an. initial. list. of. associations. that. ensured. we. covered. the.associations.coming.from.past.research.and.consistent.with.the.brand. positioning ..Since.brand.associations.are.evolving,.we.also.used.an.external. source.(consumers) ..Given.the.continuous.evolution.of.brand.attributes,.we. then.updated.this.list.using.the.ZMET.elicitation.process.(picture.analysis. and. metaphor-based. elicitation. techniques) .. The. goal. was. to. also. elicit. personal.feelings,.irrationality,.illogical.behaviour.and.repressed.attitudes .. We. should. add. that. alternative. elicitation. sources. may. be. considered,. such.as.brainstorming.sessions.or.insights.from.other.research . A.total.of.

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Step 1: Selection of the associations Internal perspective: brand associations listed by the brand manager based on brand position and past market research External perspective: brand associations elicited by consumers with ZMET

Step 2: Mapping

Step 3: Codi cation and aggregation Core associations: frequency of mention and number of interconnections with other associations First-order associations: frequency of rst-order mention and position in the interconnections

Step 4: Clustering based on complete linkage method

Step 5: Make clusters vivid, for example through BCM

Figure 1 BCM segmentation: ve-step process

25. students. participated. in. that. ZMET. study .. As. we. reached. theoretical. saturation. after. the. 15th. interview,. this. number. should. be. sufficient. (Zaltman.&.Coulter.1995) . The. respondents. were. asked. to. collect. 12. pictures. that. express. their. brand.knowledge.and.brand.feelings,.from.magazines.or.from.the.internet .. Then,.the.respondents.explained.the.reasons.why.they.selected.them ..From. these. validations. the. interviewer. completed. the. list. of. brand. attributes. by. assigning. abstract. associations. to. consumer. quotes .. The. following. example.illustrates.this.process:
Respondent.12:.I.chose.this.picture.of.a.river.with.a.cascade.because.I.think.that. Ice.Tea.has.to.be.consumed.very.cold . Researcher:.Attribute:.freshness,.ice.cubes

Based.on.the.pre-tests,.we.obtained.a.final.list.of.32.attributes,.as.shown. in.Table.1,.that.were.used.in.the.BCM.construction.process .

Step 2: mapping
Having. selected. those. associations. (cards). that. represent. the. brand,. the. 160. respondents. (see. Table. 2. for. the. sample. description). are. shown.

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Table 1 Complete list of attributes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Sport, move, mountain bike, clubhouse, fitness, adventure, sensation, effort Wellness, harmony, equilibrium Family, children Fruits, exotic Nature, green, veggies, flowers, plant, leaf Freshness, ice cubes Overweight, obesity Thirst-quenching Sun, heat, beach, swimming pool, holiday, deck chair, sand, scorching heat Light, diet, silhouette, figure Lemon, yellow Break, free time Sugar Relaxation High price Soft drink Terrace, outdoor, restaurant, between friends, social Energy, revitalising, active Aperitif, cocktails At any time Carafe Glass balloon Indigestible Waste, pollution Marketing, advertising, packaging Addictive, antidepressant Additive, sweetener Sparkling Peace, rest Hedonic Cool, fun, trendy, contemporary Good quality

one. brand. concept. map. for. another. brand. as. an. example. to. explain. the. construction.process,.and.especially.the.different.links.that.could.appear .. We. used. a. BCM. for. the. Volkswagen. Beetle. (Roedder. John et al .. 2006) .. The. respondents. ascertain. that. some. attributes. are. directly. linked. to. the. brand. (like. German. car. or. easy. to. park),. while. others. are. linked. to. each. other. (like. neat. colours. and. lime. green. or. silver,. meaning. that. because. of. their. lime. green. and. silver. colours. Volkswagen. Beetles. have. neat.colours),.and.that.BCMs.contain.different.types.of.link.between.the. brand. and. the. attributes,. as. well. as. between. attributes. (single,. double. or. triple.links),.which.indicates.how.strong.the.associations.are,.with.a.triple. link. meaning. very. strong .. After. this. respondent. learning. process,. the.

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Table 2 Sample description

Age <20 2024 2529 3039 4049 >50 Users/non-users users Non-users Frequency 12 30 37 30 24 27 92 68 % 8 19 23 19 15 17 54 40 Sex Male Female Income <10,000 10,00020,000 20,00030,000 30,00040,000 >40,000 Frequency 70 90 57 11 37 38 15 % 44 56 36 7 23 24 9

respondents. are. asked. to. create. a. personal. concept. map,. using. the. preselected.associations/cards,.a.blank.poster.containing.the.brand.name.in.the. centre.and.single,.double.and.triple.lines.to.connect.the.cards.(all.provided. by.the.researchers) ..Respondents.stick.the.cards.with.the.attributes.on.the. poster.and.connect.them.with.single,.double.and.triple.links . In.our.Lipton.Ice.Tea.study.we.collected.BCMs.from.160.respondents .. We. used. quotas. of. age,. gender,. income. and. experience. with. the. brand. (see. Table. 2. for. sample. description. and. demographics) .. All. respondents. confirmed. that. they. understood. the. procedure. and. had. no. problem. following.it . In. the. end,. the. interviewer. asked. the. respondents. to. describe. prior. experiences.with.the.brand.(user.or.non-user).and.to.provide.us.with.his/ her. demographics .. The. BCM. construction. and. interviews. lasted. 1530. minutes.on.average .

Step 3: codification and aggregation

In.a.second.step,.the.individual.BCMs.have.to.be.aggregated.in.order.to. show.the.general.perception.of.the.brand ..Figure.2.shows.the.aggregated. BCM.for.Lipton.Ice.Tea.in.Belgium . Therefore.two.independent.coders.(inter-coder.agreement.98%).coded: . the.presence.or.the.absence.of.each.of.the.32.attributes . the.types.of.links.between.associations,.and.between.the.brand.and.the. associations.(single,.double.and.triple)

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Nature, green, veggies, owers, plant, leaf Thirst-quenching Fruits, exotic

Marketing, advertising, packaging Cool, fun, trendy, contemporary

Freshness, ice cubes

Ice Tea Pleasure, relaxation

Soft drink Sugar

Sparkling Overweight, obesity

Sun, heat, beach, swimming pool, holiday, deck chair, sand, scorching heat

Terrace, outdoor, restaurant, between friends, social

Figure 2 Model: Lipton Ice Tea brand map

. the. level. at. which. each. attribute. was. placed. on. the. map. (1. means. directly. linked. to. the. brand,. 2. means. linked. to. an. attribute. that. is. linked.to.the.brand.),.and . the. associations. linked. above. and. below. each. brand. association. on. the.BCM . First,.we.had.to.decide.which.attributes.would.be.core.in.our.aggregated. BCM. and. used. the. following. measures. for. this. purpose:. the. frequency. of. mention. and. the. number. of. interconnections .. The. first. measure. is. calculated. by. dividing. the. number. of. times. an. attribute. is. cited. in. the. individual. BCM. by. the. total. amount. of. individual. BCM .. The. latter. one. counts. the. number. of. times. the. attribute. is. linked. to. all. the. other. associations .. Adhering. to. previous. content. studies. of. brand. attributes,. beliefs. and. values. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005),. we. used. a. 50%. cut-off. measure. to. decide. whether. or. not. one. attribute. should. appear. on. the. aggregated. BCM,. resulting. in. a. brand. map. containing. ten. core. brand. associations . Then,.we.had.to.decide.which.of.the.core.associations.would.be.directly. linked.to.the.brand ..Two.measures.were.used,.namely.the.frequency.and. the.ratio.of.first-order.mentioning ..The.first.measures.the.number.of.times. an.association.is.directly.linked.to.the.brand ..The.second.is.the.frequency.of. first-order.mentions.divided.by.the.frequency.of.total.mentioning ..Finally,. the.type.of.positions,.superordinate.or.subordinate,.indicates.if.most.linked. associations.appear.below.it.(superordinate).or.above.it.(subordinate) ..We. considered.these.attributes.as.first-order.attributes.whose.frequency.of.first-

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order. mention. is. higher. than. 50%,. and. whose. number. of. superordinate. connections.is.higher.than.the.number.of.subordinate.connections . The. third. step. involves. an. analysis. of. the. associations. links. in. order. to. consign. the. remaining. core. brand. attributes .. Towards. that. end,. the. frequency. of. links. between. associations. (for. example,. thirst-quenching. was. frequently. connected. above. freshness. and. ice. cube). is. examined .. We. incorporated. certain. non-core. brand. associations. that. are. frequently. linked. to. core. associations. to. show. which. non-core. brand. associations. drive. consumer. perception. of. core. associations .. We. linked. them. to. core. associations,.taking.the.average.link.used.in.the.individual.brand.maps . Most. of. the. core. associations. were. consistent. with. the. Lipton. Ice. Tea. advertising. messages,. such. as. nature,. fruits,. thirst-quenching,. freshness,. sun,. pleasure,. contemporary. and. terrace .. But. we. also. found. attributes. . like. sugar. . that. do. not. correspond. to. the. brands. positioning .. Another. example. of. non-company-driven. beliefs. is. the. perception. of. Lipton. as. a. soft. drink,. which. is. in. sharp. contrast. to. the. intended. fruit. juice. perception .. We. elicited. three. attributes. with. double. links,. namely. thirst-quenching,. sun. and. terrace .. Those. attributes. have. the. strongest. links. with. the. brand. and. all. three. correspond. to. the. positioning. and. communication. messages .. The. two. non-core. brand. associations,. which. drive. consumer. perception. of. the. core. associations. sugar. and. cool,. fun. and. contemporary,. are. respectively. obesity. and. marketing .. Of. course,. those. negative. associations. can. also. affect. brand. equity,.for.example,.through.brand.dilution.(Pullig.et al. 2006).(confusion. in. consumers. minds. regarding. the. features. connected. to. the. brand. (Henderson et al ..1998)).or.the.creation.of.a.Doppelgnger.brand.image. (Thompson. et al. 2006). (disparaging. images. and. stories. about. a. brand. that. are. circulated. in. popular. culture. by. a. loosely. organised. network. of. consumers,.anti-brand.activists,.bloggers.and.opinion.leaders.in.the.news. and.entertainment.media.(Thompson et al ..2006)) . To.test.the.reliability.of.our.aggregation,.we.randomly.split.all.individual. BCMs.into.two.groups,.produced.an.aggregate.map.for.each.of.the.groups,. and. then. evaluated. the. degree. of. consistency. between. both. consensus. maps.(see.Figure.3) ..The.first.aggregate.brand.map.had.ten.core.attributes,. while. the. second. one. had. only. nine .. Seven. attributes. are. shared. by. both. aggregated. BCMs. (six. first-link. associations. with. three. attributes. in. common) ..Comparing.both.brand.maps.based.on.the.presence.of.each.of. the. possible. 32. brand. associations,. we. obtained. a. significant. chi-square. (chi-square.=.16 .7;.p.=.0 .00<0 .05;.N.=.32).and.thus.a.high.correlation. between. the. two. brand. maps. (contingency. coefficient. =. 0 .586) .. Using.

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Half 1 Soft drink Thirst-quenching Lemon Sun Freshness Terrace Lipton Ice Tea Relax Plants Contemporary Fruits Marketing

Half 2 Overweight Terrace Fruits Plants Lipton Ice Tea Freshness Thirst-quenching Sun Contemporary Soft drink Relax

Sugar

Figure 3 Split-half reliability test

a. first. link. association. criterion,. we. also. obtained. a. significant. chisquare.(chi-square.=.4 .7;.p.=.0 .03<0 .05;.N.=.32).and.thus.a.sufficient. correlation.between.the.two.brand.maps.(contingency.coefficient.=.0 .4) .. The.high.degree.of.consistency.between.both.brand.maps.should.signify.a. high.reliability . To.test.the.nomological.validity,.we.split.the.individual.brand.maps.into. two.categories.that.should.differ.in.a.predictable.way.(users.and.non-users) .. As.the.aggregated.map.for.the.users.group.has.a.more.complex.structure. with.more.brand.associations.(ten.core.brand.attributes.for.the.users.and. eight.for.the.non-users),.more.interconnections.between.associations.and. more. triple. double. links. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005). than. the. non-usergroup.map,.we.can.confirm.a.high.level.of.nomological.validity,.as.shown. in.Table.3 . Our. nomological. validity. analysis. elicited. different. perceptions. of. Ice. Tea. based. on. consumption. and. buying. behaviour .. That. leads. us. to. our.

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Table 3 Nomological validity tests

Total number of beliefs Total number of first-level associations Total number of second- and third-level associations Total number of links Total number of first-order links Total number of second- and third-order links Total number of triple lines Total number of double lines Total number of single lines Users 11.54 6.51 5.03 15.39 10.30 5.24 1.05 2.25* 7.89 (5.09) (2.46) (5.19) (4.8) (3.82) (3.64) (1.29) (1.43) (2.5) Non-users 10.35 (3.32) 6.41 (2.59) 3.94 (3.24) 13.91 (4.52) 9.35 (3.65) 4.55 (3.8) 0.84 (0.89) 1.60* (1.32) 8.12 (3.64)

* Values that are significantly different from each other for an = 0.05 (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z) Standard deviation in parenthesis

next.research.question:.Is.it.possible.to.link.BCM.with.cluster.analysis.in. order. to. effectively. and. efficiently. segment. consumers. according. to. their. perceptions.of.a.brand?

Step 4: clustering
We.clustered.our.individual.brand.maps.based.on.the.absence/presence.of. the. 32. brand. associations. to. group. objects. based. on. the. attributes. they. possess .. Following. Everitt. et al.s. (2001) suggestion,. we. used. Sokal. and. Sneath. 4. as. a. distance. measure. and. the. complete. linkage. method. (or. further. neighbour). to. cluster. binary. variables .. By. plotting. the. distance. coefficients. (slope. variation),. and. by. using. the. measure. of. heterogeneity. change,.profile.diagrams.and.the.independent-samples.T-tests,.we.decided. how.many.clusters.to.keep.in.the.analysis . For.the.brand.Lipton.Ice.Tea,.we.discovered.a.six-cluster.solution.that. is. described. and. labelled. by. using. mean. scores,. the. profile. diagrams. and. the. independent-sample. T-tests .. The. clusters. differ. especially. in. usage. situations,. in. the. brand. evaluation. and. in. the. perception. as. soft. vs. fruit. drink .

Step 5: make clusters vivid

Traditionally,. managers. have. used. demographics,. behavioural. variables. or,. more. recently,. customer. lifetime. value. (CLV). to. segment. the. market .. By. applying. BCM. segmentation,. we. create. clusters. with. different. brand. perception. in. terms. of. brand. usage. (when?. how?),. brand. features. (e .g ..

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CLUSTER 1: After sports Sport Wellness Lipton Ice Tea Obesity Antidepressant Thirst-quenching Freshness Relaxation Sun Break Terrace

CLUSTER 2: Sunny Thirst-quenching

Freshness Lipton Ice Tea Fruits

Relax CLUSTER 4: Fruit juice Terrace Freshness Thirst-quenching Sugar Energy Fruits Additive

CLUSTER 3: Sweet and expensive Sugar Addictive Indigestible Sun

Lipton Ice Tea

High price Additive

Sparkling Waste Contemporary

Freshness

Lipton Ice Tea

Nature

CLUSTER 5: Quality at any time Good quality Thirst-quenching Contemporary At any time Terrace Energy Break Family Overweight Lipton Ice Tea Sugar

CLUSTER 6: Light and healthy Sun Light Wellness Relaxation

Freshness Thirst-quenching Quality

Lipton Ice Tea Family Lemon Fruits Nature

Figure 4 Aggregated BCM for the six segments

sweet,.expensive).or.other.brand.associations.(e .g ..family) ..To.interpret.and. profile.our.six.segments,.we.created.an.aggregated.BCM.for.each.of.the.six. clusters ..The.results.are.described.in.Figure.4 . Cluster.1.(after.sports).considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.refreshing.beverage.that. can.be.drunk.especially.after.sports,.or.relaxing.outdoors.on.a.terrace . Cluster.2.(sunny).considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.beverage.that.is.mostly.drunk. when.the.weather.is.sunny ..This.segment.enjoys.the.freshness.and.the.fruity. side.of.Ice.Tea ..They.also.link.Ice.Tea.to.relaxation .

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Cluster.3.(sweet.and.expensive).has.a.negative.perception.of.Ice.Tea .. This. group. considers. Ice. Tea. as. a. soft. drink,. full. of. sugar. that. causes. obesity ..Customers.of.that.segment.also.criticise.the.price.of.the.beverage. and.the.presence.of.additives,.like.aspartame.(a.sweetener) ..This.group.also. considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.contemporary,.fresh,.sparkling.soft.drink,.associated. with.sunny.weather . Cluster. 4. (fruit. juice). considers. Ice. Tea. especially. linked. to. freshness,. lemon. and. other. fruits .. Of. this. cluster,. 70%. find. it. especially. linked. to. (tea).plants,.but.50%.also.consider.it.as.very.sweet . Cluster. 5. (quality. at. any. time). considers. Ice. Tea. as. a. contemporary. beverage. that. can. be. drunk. at. any. time .. This. is. a. quality. beverage,. but. with.a.risk.of.causing.excess.weight.when.consumption.is.excessive ..This. cluster.also.emphasises.the.healthy.side.of.Ice.Tea . Cluster. 6. (light. and. healthy). emphasises. the. healthy. side. of. Ice. Tea .. This.cluster.mentioned.the.quality.of.the.beverage,.the.link.with.fruits.and. plants,.and.the.energy.contribution ..This.group.also.recognises.the.link.to. freshness,.sun,.relaxation.and.lemon .

Conclusions and theoretical implications Implications for brand image measurement

This. paper. demonstrates. the. usefulness,. reliability. and. validity. of. the. brand.concept.mapping.(BCM).methodology ..Furthermore,.our.approach. enhances. the. elicitation. stage. of. BCM. by. adding. picture. analysis. and. metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques.to.obtain.a.complete.and.up-to-date. list. of. attributes .. Our. study. augments. the. range. of. BCM. applications. by. employing.it.as.a.segmentation.tool ..Finally,.BCM.is.a.way.of.measuring. brand.image,.but.also.attitude.and.usage ..Therefore,.BCM.could.possibly. replace,.or.at.the.very.least.complement.classical.research.on.attitude.and. brand.usage.(visual.instead.of.figures) .

Managerial implications and applications for the information presented in the article Implications for image and reputation management
From. a. managerial. point. of. view,. this. study. identifies. the. different. perceptions. of. Lipton. Ice. Tea .. When. the. aggregated. brand. map. is. compared. to. the. intended. brand. positioning. (by. the. company),. we. find.

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the. core. attributes. of. the. consensus. map. consistent. with. the. intended. positioning. of. Lipton. Ice. Tea .. A. single. exception. is. the. attribute. sugar .. The. two. negative. non-core. brand. associations,. obesity. and. marketing,. need.to.be.carefully.scrutinised .

Implications for segmentation

Traditionally,.companies.have.segmented.their.potential.customers.on.the. basis. of. similar. sets. of. needs. and. wants. that. should. affect. consumption. habits .. Most. marketers. use. consumer. characteristics. and. customer. response. to. translate. these. sets. of. needs,. or. wants,. into. effective. market. segments . We. suggested. a. method. that. is. not. just. based. on. (more. general). needs. and. wants,. but. more. specifically. on. different. brand. perceptions .. This. method. clusters. customers. with. similar. perceptions. as. expressed. through.BCMs ..Naturally,.these.clusters.can.then.be.linked.with.classical. segmentation. variables,. like. brand. experience,. personal. involvement. or. brand. awareness .. The. cluster. descriptions. provide. managers. with. information. about. the. different. consumption. habits. of. these. subgroups. and. their. consequences. in. terms. of. brand. perception .. Brand. managers. can,. therefore,. more. easily. identify. which. subgroups. are. commercially. attractive. for. the. company. (cluster. number. 3. is. excluded) .. We. suggest. using.this.method.when.the.brand.is.heterogeneously.perceived.and.when. classical.segmentation.variables.do.not.lead.to.successful.results .

Implications for brand positioning

On.the.basis.of.the.brand.concept.map,.brand.managers.can.(re-)evaluate. their.brand.identity.by.comparing.consumers.perceptions.with.the.brands. positioning . If. certain. brand. perceptions. are. inconsistent. with. the. intended. positioning,. corrective. action. could. be. taken. to. either. modify. these. perceptions.(if.possible),.or.to.reconsider.the.brands.points.of.parity.and. points.of.difference . Another. opportunity. would. be. to. create. different. positioning. to. incorporate.the.variations.in.the.brand.image.perception.and.overcome.the. differences.due.to.the.culture,.brand.experience.or.product.involvement .. Given. the. profiles. of. specific. segments. and. their. consumption. habits,. managers. can. adapt. brand. elements,. such. as. product. benefits,. packaging.

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and.other.aspects.of.integrated.marketing.communication,.to.reinforce.the. brand.image.perception.and.build.brand.equity.segment.by.segment .

Implications for brand communication

Due.to.selective.distortion,.consumers.pay.more.attention.to.communication. messages. that. are. in. accordance. with. their. previously. acquired. beliefs. stored.in.the. long-term.memory .. Therefore,. the.creative.content.and. the. communication. messages. should. be. adapted. depending. on. the. segments. and.its.brand.image.perception .

Implications for brand equity management

Another. implication. for. brand. management. could. be. an. adaptation. of. the. brand. architecture .. When. some. clusters. describe. Lipton. Ice. Tea. as. light. and. healthy,. while. others. perceive. it. as. sweet,. we. could. assume. that. consumers. have. different. versions. (line. extensions). in. mind .. A. clear. architecture. is. needed,. to. align. extensions. with. specific. associations,. and. on.the.other.hand.create.more.general.associations,.that.could.be.shared.by. all.consumers/versions ..We.suggest.examining.brand.equity.components.at. the.corporate.level.(Unilever),.at.the.brand.level.(Lipton.Ice.Tea),.but.also. at.the.line.extension.level .

Implications for competition analysis

Managers. must. take. into. account. that. certain. products. are. considered. as. competitive. products. by. some. segments. and. not. by. others .. Marketers. need. to. adapt. their. competitive. strategy. in. light. of. these. differences. in. perception .

Limitations and future research directions

The.sample.size.(160).disallowed.the.use.of.latent.cluster.analysis.and.led. to.relatively.small.clusters ..However,.the.aim.of.the.study.was.to.present.a. technique.that.is.appropriate.for.solving.certain.types.of.problems.rather. than.to.draw.any.general.inferences.as.to.how.consumers.perceive.Lipton. Ice.Tea ..To.pursue.this.other.goal,.a.replication.with.a.larger.sample.size. would.be.necessary .

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For.Lipton.Ice.Tea,.a.five-cluster.solution.is.suggested ..From.a.managerial. point.of.view,.it.would.have.been.easier.to.have.fewer.segments.(two.or. three) . Regarding.the.effect.on.buying.behaviour,.the.uniqueness.of.the.brand. associations.will.have.a.positive.effect.on.purchase.choices.(Keller.2003b) .. However,.Ajzen.(1988).showed.that.perception.is.only.one.component.of. attitude ..The.brand.map.should.therefore.be.interpreted.from.a.contingent. perspective.to.show.the.effects.on.buying.behaviour . Finally,. although. this. methodology. produces. some. interesting. results,. it. still. constitutes. a. complex. (and. costly). process. for. companies. (large. number.of.interviews.and.codification.process).wishing.to.explore.brand. image.issues . As. future. research. directions,. we. suggest. the. application. of. the. BCM. methodology. to. other. managerial. issues. such. as. evaluation. of. the. effectiveness. of. co-branding. strategies,. brand. extensions,. advertising. and. other. promotional. tools .. The. BCM. technique. could. also. be. useful. when. applied.to.brand.perception.issues.such.as.brand.confusion,.brand.dilution. (Pullig et al .. 2006). and. Doppelgnger. brand. image. (Thompson et al .. 2006) .

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International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2

About the authors

Cline. Brandt. is. marketing. assistant. and. postdoctoral. fellow. at. the. HEC. School.of.Management.of.the.University.of.Lige.(Belgium) ..Her.research. focuses. are. in. the. area. of. product. and. corporate. brand. reputation,. branding,. networks. in. marketing. and. consumer. behavior .. Cline. Brandt. is. the. author. of. various. communications. and. a. doctoral. dissertation. in. marketing .. Her. doctoral. thesis. deals. with. the. measurement. of. individual. brand.image.perception.and.brand.reputation.using.associative.networks . Charles. Pahud. de. Mortanges. received. his. BA. (Economics). from. the. University.of.California.and.his.MBA.from.the.California.State.University .. . His.PhD.(Economics).is.from.the.University.of.Groningen ..Currently,.he. is.a.full.professor.of.marketing.at.the.HEC.School.of.Management.of.the. University.of.Liege.(Belgium) ..His.research.interests.are.primarily.in.brand. management.and.brand.valuation . Christian. Bluemelhuber. is. the. InBev. Baillet. Latour. Professor. dEuromarketing. at. the. Solvay. Brussels. School. of. Economics. and. Management. (Universit. Libre. de. Bruxelles) .. His. research. is. devoted. to. the. interpretation. of. consumer. behaviour,. services. and. branding. experiences,. visual. techniques,. and. integrating. European. perspectives. into. the. marketing. landscape .. More. information. on. Christians. work. is. available.on.his.website.http://www .bluemelhuber .de . Allard. van. Riel. is. a. full. professor. of. marketing. and. director. of. the. Institute.for.Management.Research.of.the.Radboud.University.in.Nijmegen,. the.Netherlands ..He.holds.a.PhD.in.Service.Innovation.Management.from. Maastricht.University ..Between.2004.and.2009.he.held.the.Arcelor-Mittal. Chair.in.Innovation.Strategy.and.Management.at.the.University.of.Lige. in. Belgium .. His. research. interests. include. cognitive. aspects. of. decisionmaking. under. complexity. and. uncertainty,. specifically. in. innovation. management,. and. service. operations. and. marketing. management .. He. published. in. the. Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing,. and. International Journal of Service Industry Management .. He. is. currently. focusing. on. responsible. decision-making. in. health.care.innovation .. Address. correspondence. to:. Cline. Brandt,. HEC. Universit. de. Lige,. Department.of.Marketing,.Boulevard.du.Rectorat.7,.Liege,.4000,.Belgium . Email:.celine .brandt@ulg .ac .be

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