A Research Proposal

On

Brand Strategy & Consumer Choice: A Study on the

Brand ‘Dove’

1

Table of Contents

ParticularsPage

No.

Introduction 03

Rationale of the Study 03

Research Question 04

Research Objectives 05

Literature Review 06

Research Philosophy 10

Research Design & Methodology 11

Research Techniques: Data

Collection and Others14

Data Analysis 16

Limitations 17

Strategies to Overcome Barriers 17

Suggestion for Further Study 18

References 19

2

Introduction:

Operational brand management strategies are crucially

desirable for a long run accomplishment of a business

particularly in the circumstance of competitive environment.

Before developing as well as implementing these approaches

it is very significant to evaluate the current situation of

company’s brand that where we are. This existing position of

a company’s brand can be measured through brand fairness.

Brand fairness is the gathering of assets and

accountabilities of a brand, linked to the brand uniqueness

that displays the additional value in the mind of end user

that enterprise had earned from the historical performance

of its brand (Aaker, 1991). So, when a firm considers brand

strategy it should focus on assets and accountabilities of a

particular brand.

3

Rationale of the Study:

The research will try to uncover the factors which relate

brand strategy with customer choice. And it is based on the

examination of the fact that, how branding strategy is

helping in determining the action of consumers to choose a

product or service or in what extent branding strategy

influences consumer choice. The research will also focus on

the particular brand – ‘Dove’ concerning customer choices.

These will be much clearer in the objective part and it will

provide an over view of the research. And, of course the

research will be held on England perspective. It will be

conducted on the senior employees of ‘Unilever’ who have

something to do with determining the branding strategy of

the particular brand ‘Dove’ and the consumers of this brand.

After completing this we will get an idea that in what

extent branding strategy contributes to regulate the mode of

action in case of customer choice.

Research Question:

Core Question:

Does branding strategy for the brand ‘Dove’ influence the

product choice of consumers?4

Sub – Questions:

Is branding strategy influencing customer choice

positively or negatively?

What are the factors related with this process?

How does branding strategy work from the consumers’

point of view?

In what extent it is affecting consumers’ product

choice?

What measures should be taken to influence the

consumers’ product choice positively?

What principle will be followed for media planning,

public relation and organizing brand management in case

of the brand ‘Dove’?

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Research Objectives:

To find out the relationship between branding strategy and

consumer product choice.

Sub – Objectives:

Finding out the factors both individual and environmental

which makes branding strategy influential for consumer

product choice.

Focus on the extent to which branding strategy influences

consumer choice.

Identifying the aspects in which companies need to focus

to influence consumers positively.

To examine branding strategy from consumers’ point of

view.

To overcome the lacking of branding strategy and make it

effective to determine consumers’ product choice.

6

Literature Review:

Scholars mentioned about brand past which states us how the

publics have used the brand as a sign of identification. In

the previous times the brand was used to distinguish the

goods of one manufacturer to others (Hasan, 2008). The

antiquity of branding drives back while people used burned

mark on livestock in order to recognize the quality.

Branding ideas have been utilized for periods everywhere the

world in diverse forms (Hill, & Jones, 2009).

Brands play dynamic part in the result making procedures of

the consumer. It is imperative for businesses to find out

consumer’s decision course and identify the principles,

which consumers relate while constructing decision. How

brand titles influence the consumer buying decision? Why

consumers purchase a certain brand also infers how consumers7

select what to buy. Consumers follow the arrangement of

phases in decision course to purchase a particular product.

They start understanding a necessity of product, get info,

recognize & assess alternative products then finally choose

to buy a product from a particular brand. When consumers buy

certain brand regularly, he or she usages his or her

previous knowledge about that brand manufactured goods

concerning performance, excellence and visual appeal (Pars &

Gulsel, 2011a).

Experts suggest that, in today’s commercial environment,

businesses must make effort firmer than ever earlier to

attain some amount of difference in their goods. Many

businesses have required accomplishing this difference by

branding their goods, simply placing the company’s name on

merchandise. The market is swamped with new as well as old

brands besides concentration of brand conflict is growing

gradually. The admiration of a brand is an instrument for

existence and achievement of business in the marketplace. In

this respect businesses offer diverse packages to consumers

with the use of altered resource weaponries in this rivalry

war for raising consciousness among the consumers about the

branded merchandise (Rosen & Olshavsky, 1987a).

It is thought that branding or else re-branding, through a

new tag otherwise logo does not originate cheap and should8

consequently be held with highest care and accuracy lest it

sums to a entire waste of money as well as other resources.

Lead Edge (2005) declares, based on the outcome of its study

that the worth of a robust brand lies in the reaction left

with everyone who comes into interaction with the business.

They additional opined that the maximum persuasive reasons

for operative branding is to attain customer loyalty and

care a premium price since buyers rely on knowledge and

their long thought outlooks about a brand; besides that

effective brands are frequently concentrated on one

particular market section. For a new authority, a most

operative branding, involves an unforgettable name plus an

ever-present slogan united with an instantly identifiable

and exclusive logo. It suggested a simple and logical

forward logo or else possibly, a rich design of an idea.

Some scholars talked about brand image. Brand image can be

separate as the gist that the consumers recognize with the

merchandise or as the amount of their accepting of the

merchandise. Brand image is the outcome of feelings of

consumers grown from numerous bases about the brand. Several

issues such as trying out the branded manufactured goods,

the producer's reputation, product packing, brand name, the

advertisement arrangement used as well as its content plus

the sort of mass media wherever the advertisement is

accessible are amongst these sources. Brand image is9

understood as the amount of the expressive and visual

impressions which occur in the users about the product. Many

features such as whatever that the brand recaps, what it

suggests in the sense of the consumer besides the buying

manners of the end user must be considered with in order to

define the brand image (Lombard, 2007a).

Consumers’ choice making decision is also determined by

brand image. Brand image acts in the thoughts of the

consumer through views of brand that arise by means of the

brand suggestions reserved in memory. In addition to that,

Brand image is the total of views concerning the brand plus

it may comprise basics such as product uniqueness, feelings,

as well as mind associations. Brand image is the quantity of

elements totaling meaning besides worth the brand. Consumers

assess products as well as brands relating with the image

they shaped and they buy the image, not the merchandise.

Product qualities and assistances that it delivers can be

measured as very significant issues for a branded

merchandise to ensure an image (Lombard, 2007b). Brand must

suggest positive brand qualities, assistances, company

morals, character, and users in the minds of buyers for

formation of a robust brand image. In total, assimilation of

the brand image using commercial image is also essential for

a brand image to be operational. Thus considering all these

aspects and planning thereby if branding strategy is applied10

then it can be expected that it will be proven to be

influential to make the consumers choose a particular

product.

Daye, VanAuken and Asacker (2008) recognized color as a

serious part in developing a branding policy. They

pronounced that a business necessity to be intelligent in

bearing in mind what they named the consciousness of color

while designing their advertising materials. These authors

stated that colors not only improves the presence of the

element they also effect consumer behavior. They more said

that the color of brand may mark or ruin branding strategy

whereas pointing out that result of colors varies; from

nation to nation. Some other researchers mention that firms

should somewhat concentrate on taking a brand collection

which typically refers to the firms set of linked brands

and/or goods. According to them, the old-style logic after

having a collection of brands than a particular brand has

been potential diversification as well as risk minimization.

However it is also advised that the existences of a firm

taking one principal star brand plus others of low quality

simply ensuing have gone. There are three split methods to

developing an operative branding strategy specifically,

determine which spectators to emphasis on, fix what message

brand should carry and lastly, determine what makes the

brand. Further it is opined that a brand need to have a11

strong audience attention, value emphasis and tone-of-voice

emphasis with which to convey its well-honed note.

In today's concentrated competitive situation, business’s

purposes must not merely meet consumers' expectations, but

also surpass these expectations so as to stay alive in the

market plus companies must create trustworthy consumers by

giving self-assurance to them. So, companies’ purposes can

reach these goals through branding (Pars & Gulsel, 2011b).

Different strategies can serve this purpose. And strategies

can be possibly hybrid (Rosen & Olshavsky, 1987b). Mr. Eric

and Mr. Tamar argued that brand strategy should be based on

economic metrics to be effective (Almquist & Dor-Ner, 2012).

Sometimes customers can be uninterested about a product or

service for branding it by the store name (EuroCommerce,

2010). Scholars say that consumer perception can be said as

the image of a particular brand. To some extent it can

differ from the physical aspect of the product (Lombard,

2007c).

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Research Philosophy:

Selection of subject:

In my judgment, of all subjects Consumer Behavior is the

most fascinating since understanding consumer behavior is

crucial to succeed in today’s ever-growing competition among

businesses across the world. Partaking in the study of

Consumer Behavior, the limit of my awareness about consumer

behavior will be widened and together I am immensely willing

to do research on Consumer Behavior. The purpose I chose the

subject is mostly because it is directly connected to

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consumer behavior. Consumers favor one brand above another,

generally because of their behavior as well as attitude to

the merchandise and so forth.

Other aspects:

The key sources of my info for this work are books, writings

as well as the database for research articles from online. I

will try my best to apply recent info in my study, since

recently available info is most dependable, authentic plus

trustworthy. I realize branding and consumer behavior are

the arenas that gets modernized continuously.

In my view, the writings I have got and used in my study as

a reference are reliable since it has been written by

specialists and well-known people in the arena of marketing.

These philosophies, books as well as articles, are

recognized in whole of the educational world plus are widely

used as a reference. Furthermore many marketing executives

and investigators apply these philosophies as a marketing

instrument. Consequently I can trust this info as dependable

to be used in my study.

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Research Design & Methodology:

Nature of the

Research

: Descriptive Type.

Population : All the consumers of the brand

‘Dove’ in England. Sample Size :

50 employees of Unilever and 300

consumers of the particular brand

‘Dove’.Sample Technique : Non Probability Sampling

(Convenient Sampling)Sources of Data : Primary (secondary to some extent).Technique of

collecting Data

: Unstructured interview, Survey

using 5 (five) point Likert scale. Data Analysis : Qualitative analysis as well as

statistical analysis will be

performed through analyzing

Percentage, Mean, Standard

Deviation, Coefficient of

Variation, Correlation and

Regression using SPSS software.

Methods in detail:

Research Design

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The study is based on the brand strategy and its influence

on consumer choice of the product. Research can be three

types – Exploratory, Causal and Descriptive. Exploratory

research only explores the fact; causal research is

conducted to find out the cause of a particular phenomenon.

And descriptive study describes a matter. So, it is not a

causal or exploratory study rather it is a descriptive

research.

Population

Here the population will be consumers of the products

bearing the brand ‘Dove’.

Sampling design

It is said that a drop of blood is a perfect sample to judge

a human body. Studies will show the appropriate result if

the sampling is appropriate. ‘Dove’ is a product brand under

the mother company ‘Unilever’. The study will be conducted

on the 50 senior employees of ‘Unilever’ who have something

to do with determining the branding strategy of the

particular brand ‘Dove’ and 300 the consumers of this brand

in England.

Questionnaire Design

My planned questionnaire is very adjacent to the context of

my study, which I need to know through this study about

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consumer decision, consumer behavior, brand loyalty, brand

attentiveness, brand quality, brand name and customer

experience, social class price strategy etc. in relation

with the branding strategy set by the management. My

questionnaire will focus on the issues like – Brand Name and

Influence on Consumer Choice, Brand Mark and Influence on

Consumer Choice, Consumer Belief that their Choice Brand is

superior in Quality than Others, Consumers Ability to

Identify Their Choice Brand, Consumer Ranking of the

Dissimilar Elements of Branding as they Affect their Choice,

Wrapping and Influence on Consumer Choice etc.

Expected Result:

Based on the past studies it can be said that the research

may show there is a positive relationship between a good

branding strategy and consumer choice of the produce. And

brand sign, color, etc. plays an important role to determine

the course of action of consumers in choosing a product.

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Research Techniques: Data Collection and Others:

Qualitative Vs. Quantitative Approaches:

There are two types of approaches that scholars can employ

when gathering information for a study. These are known as

qualitative and quantitative approaches. The cause of

qualitative research is to see what is in a consumer’s

thoughts. It can be completed to access and take an

irregular idea about customer’s viewpoint. It helps the

scholar to be focused on to the diversity and complication

of consumer’s doings and anxiety. The Qualitative statistics

is composed for various motives. It is very useful to know

effects which scholars can discover through Qualitative data

analysis. Academics can straightly measure practical stuffs

which are unmanageable otherwise, similar to respondents

emotion about particular product or brand, views, intensions

and behavior.

The quantitative data investigation similarly plays a

significant role in the study, this is principal method used

mostly in economics and business. The quantitative

statistics is used very commonly in study and now it has

developed a significant share in research analysis.18

Quantitative research is largely employed as a substitute

for any data analysis assembly technique for instance

questionnaire, data analysis formed through statistics and

graphs. The quantitative data states to all sort of such

data that can be utilized for all type of research policies

for the products.

Data Collection Techniques for this Study:

For Qualitative Data: Data will be collected through

unstructured interviews both from Unilever employees and

from the consumers of the particular brand ‘Dove’.

For Quantitative Data: Quantitative data will be

collected through a structured questionnaire using five

point likert scales. And as it is mentioned earlier that

this questionnaire will be constructed focusing Brand

Name and Influence on Consumer Choice, Brand Mark and

Influence on Consumer Choice, Consumer Belief that their

Choice Brand is superior in Quality than Others,

Consumers Ability to Identify Their Choice Brand,

Consumer Ranking of the Dissimilar Elements of Branding

as they Affect their Choice, Wrapping and Influence on

Consumer Choice etc.

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Data Analysis:

Qualitative Data Analysis:

It is some types tough to analyze qualitative data. Here

this type of data will be analyzed based on common sense,

perception and previous experience. Assistance from the

expert may be required in this regard for getting the more

appropriate result.

Quantitative Data Analysis:

It has been mentioned earlier that quantitative data will be

analyzed through using SPSS software. For this different

statistical method will be applied. Here a brief description

of these methods is presented –

Percentage: It is a simple method; this is mainly the

percentage of total respondents who give their consent on a

particular fact or question and the consent goes to a

certain direction. For instance, regarding ‘Brand Mark and

Influence on Consumer Choice’ 30% (thirty percent) of the

total respondents react positively.

Mean: It is simply the average of the answer given by the

respondents on a particular question.

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Standard Deviation: This is a tool which measures that in

what extent respondents’ answer can deviate from the mean or

average answer.

Coefficient of Variation: It is a used to compare the

variability of the response of the respondents. It is

calculated like this –

(St. Deviation/ Mean)*100

Correlation: It studies the relationship between two or more

variable.

Regression: Using this statistical tool average probable

change of one variable in respect of certain portion change

of another variable can be measured.

(Gupta & Gupta, 2007)

Limitations: It is said that qualitative judgment is difficult than

quantitative judgment. In case of quantitative judgment

there are available statistical tool. This is so true in

case of a research. This might me a limitation for this

study.

Experience does matter. As a student I have not that much

experienced as a professional researcher. So, lack of

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experience can be a limitation for this research and this

may be reflected on the outcome of the study.

This study is done only based on England perspective. As

the research is conducted on a particular area, the

outcome of the research may be biased and it will not

focus on the world’s situation as a whole.

Strategies to Overcome Barriers:

To overcome the limitation come from qualitative judgment

there is something which can be a good strategy. To judge

or derive conclusion from the collected qualitative data,

assistance from the expert or experienced individual can

be posed as effective.

Limitation arisen from lack of experience can also be

overcome with the help of experienced individuals or

experts. This can be a fruitful strategy.

As it is mentioned earlier the research is conducted

based on certain environment thus it could be partly

biased. So, to overcome this limitation the sample should

be diversified. In case of consumers the respondents can

be selected from different class of people who have

different outlook and philosophy on life.

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Suggestion for Further Study:

The existing study is based on the particular brand ‘Dove’ and

from England perspective. Consequently, the outcome cannot be

generalized for other parts of the world as the result may

from nation to nation since some other factors are there like

– culture and so on. I think more research can be conducted on

a huge scale with big sample size and not only with the brand

‘Dove”, but also covering other well-known brands and other

products or in other areas of the world focusing on branding

strategy and consumer choice of the product.

Some interesting evidences are found in past studies, amongst

them one is that recognized brand name is more popular than

the unfamiliar brands. Individuals have a great responsiveness

about the well-known brand. Common of customers desire to buy

a renowned brand product. Thus customers do not need to take

any risk to buy unfamiliar brands. Though study displays that

publics’ first inclination is to buy a branded products

however I cannot relate this result to other studies.

Additional study can be rendered in this part for finding the

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wide responses that this outcome can be applied for all other

studies.

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