Abstract
Most marketers point to product brands in discussing the use of customer emotions in building strong brands. It is, however, proposed here that emotions play an even more powerful role in the customer's selection, satisfaction and loyalty toward service brands. This paper discusses why marketers of service brands need to understand the emotional dynamics involved when a customer selects and decides to continue to use a service brand. It also provides practical guidance for how marketers can build strong service brands by creating and managing emotional brand experiences. Such brand experiences lead to brand loyalty, active referral of the brand and increased profitability for the brand.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aaker, D. (1996) ‘Building Strong Brands’, The Free Press, New York.
Keller, K. (2003) ‘Strategic Brand Management’, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
Brembeck, H. and Ekstrom, K. (2004) ‘Elusive Consumption’, Berg Publishers, Oxford.
Gobe, M. (2001) ‘Emotional Branding’, Allworth Press, New York, NY.
Ratneshwar, S. and Mick, D. (2005) ‘Inside Consumption’, Routledge, London.
O'Shaughnessy, J. and O'Shaughnessy, N. J. (2003) ‘The Marketing Power of Emotion’, Oxford University Press, New York.
Pine II, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (1999) ‘The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business is a Stage’, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Pullman, M. E. and Gross, M. A. (2004) ‘Ability of service design elements to elicit emotions and loyalty behaviors’, Decision Sciences, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 551–578.
Crane, F., Kerin, R. and Hartley, S. (2007) ‘Marketing, 7th Canadian edn, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto.
Gobe (2001) op. cit.
Keller (2003) op. cit.
Gapper, J. (2004) ‘The challenge of turning a brand into an object of love’, Financial Times, March 23, p. 23.
Gobe (2001) op. cit.
Keller (2003) op. cit.
Bagozzi, R. P., Gopinath, M. and Nyer, P. U. (1999) ‘The role of emotions in marketing’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 27, pp. 184–206.
Fiske, S. T. and Taylor, S. E. (1991) ‘Social Cognition’, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Lazarus, R. (1984) ‘On the primacy of cognition’, American Psychologist, Vol. 39, pp. 124–129.
Zajonc, R. B. (1980) ‘Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences’, American Psychologist, Vol. 35, pp. 151–175.
Schachter, S. and Singer, J. E. (1962) ‘Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state’, Psychological Review, Vol. 69, pp. 379–399.
Zajonc, R. B. (1968) ‘Attitudinal effects of mere exposure’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 9, pp. 1–27.
LeDoux, J. (2003) ‘Management wisdom from a neuroscientist’, Gallup Management Journal, http://gmj.gallup.com.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003) op. cit.
Shaver, P., Schwartz, J., Kirson, D. and O'Connor, C. (1987) ‘Emotion knowledge: Further exploration of a prototype approach’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 52, pp. 1061–1086.
Ajzen, I. and Fishbein, M. (1977) ‘Attitude–behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research’, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 84, pp. 888–918.
Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1974) ‘Attitudes towards objects as predictors of single and multiple behavioral criteria’, Psychological Review, Vol. 81, pp. 59–74.
Fishbein, M. and Azjen, I. (1975) ‘Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research’, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Ajzen, I. (1988) ‘Attitudes, Personality, and Behavior’, Dorsey, Chicago.
Ajzen, I. and Madden, T. J. (1986) ‘Prediction of goal-directed behavior: Attitudes, intentions, and perceived behavioral control’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 22, pp. 453–474.
Ajzen (1988) op. cit.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003) op. cit.
Morris, J. D., Woo, C., Geason, J. A. and Kim, J. (2002) ‘The power of affect: Predicting intention’, Journal of Advertising Research (May–June), Vol.42, No. 3, pp. 7–17.
Haley, R. I. and Baldinger, A. L. (1991) ‘The ARF copy research validation project’, Journal of Advertising Research (April–May), Vol.40, No. 6, pp. 11–32.
Edell, J. A. and Burke, M. C. (1987) ‘The power of feelings in understanding advertising effects’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, pp. 421–433.
Aaker (1996) op cit.
Keller (2003) op. cit.
Price, L. L., Arnould, E. J. and Deibler, S. L. (1995) ‘Consumers' emotional responses to service encounters: The influence of the service provider’, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 34–63.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003) op. cit.
Ibid.
Price, Arnould and Deibler (1995) op. cit.
Crane, F. G. (1993) ‘Professional services marketing in the future: Challenges and solutions’, Journal of Professional Services Marketing, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 3–12.
Ibid.
Bagozzi, Gopinath and Nyer (1999) op. cit.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003) op. cit.
Crane (1993) op. cit.
Yagil, D. (2001) ‘Ingratiation and assertiveness in the service provider—Customer dyad’, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 345–353.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003) op. cit.
Allen, C. T., Machleit, K. A. and Kleine, S. S. (1992) ‘A comparison of attitudes and emotions as predictors of behavior at diverse levels of behavioral experience’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18, pp. 493–504.
Brown, T. J. and Kirmani, A. (1999) ‘The influence of preencounter affect on satisfaction with an anxiety-provoking service encounter’, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 333–346.
Gobe (2001) op. cit.
Pine II, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. (1998) ‘Welcome to the experience economy’, Harvard Business Review (July–August), Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 97–105.
Pullman and Gross (2004) op. cit.
Pine and Gilmore (1999) op. cit.
Arnould, L. and Price, L. (1993) ‘River magic: Extraordinary experience and the extended services encounter’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, pp. 24–45.
Pine and Gilmore (1999) op. cit.
Ibid.
Pullman and Gross (2004) op. cit.
Gupta, S. and Vajic, M. (1999) ‘The contextual and dialectical nature of experiences’, in Fitzsimmons, J., Fitzsimmons, M. (eds) New Service Development’, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 33–51.
Carbone, L. and Haeckel, S. (1994) ‘Engineering customer experience’, Marketing Management, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 8–19.
Berry, L., Carbone, L. and Haeckel, S. (2002) ‘Managing the total customer experience’, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 85–89.
Pullman and Gross (2004) op. cit.
Ibid.
Crane, Kerin and Hartley (2007) op. cit.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003) op. cit.
Price, Arnould and Deibler (1995) op. cit.
Bateson, J. E. G. and Hui, M. K. M. (1991) ‘Perceived control and the effects of crowding and consumer choice on the service experience’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18, pp. 174–184.
Ibid.
Pine and Gilmore (1999) op. cit.
Ibid.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
1an MBA student working with Dr Crane at the University of New Hampshire. She is currently employed in the high-tech sector in the state of New Hampshire. In addition to an MBA, she also has a master's degree in psychology.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morrison, S., Crane, F. Building the service brand by creating and managing an emotional brand experience. J Brand Manag 14, 410–421 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550080
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550080