Problem:
Think about the meaning brands have for consumers, the roles brands play, and the views customers have of brands developed through marketing and non-marketing influences.
In her 1998 paper Susan Fournier argues that customers have relationships with brands.
Question 1. Explain what Fournier means by "having a relationship" with a brand.
Question 2. Using two brands chosen from the categories below, explain whether or not you believe that customers have relationships with those brands.
Question 3. Expand your thinking and explain whether, based on Fournier's paper, your own experience and your knowledge of other people, customers have relationships with all brands.
There is only one case reading, Susan Fournier's 1998 article in which, amongst other things, she argues that consumers have relationships with brands. Other marketing academics have said that they don't, (e.g. Vargo and Lusch, (2004), in a Journal of Marketing article state that "inanimate items of exchange cannot have relationships"). Perhaps they do but only under certain circumstances? That is for you to consider.
In order to answer this question you are required to identify ONE brand from each of TWO of the three categories shown below and explore Fournier's idea that consumers have relationships with them.
The three categories are:
Brand of SUPERMARKET OR GROCERY STORE (ie. Raley's or Safeway).
Brand of Do It Yourself (DIY) (ie. a black and decker drill) TOOLS .
Brand of MUSICIAN OR OTHER PERFORMING ARTIST.
Select ONE brand from TWO of these three product categories, (e.g. you might choose a brand of supermarket, say and a DIY tool brand, or, alternatively, a brand of musician, and a brand of supermarket.
Note that it is not assumed that you will agree with Dr. Fournier that people have relationships with brands, nor is it assumed that you will necessarily disagree. Clearly marketing scholars disagree about this so you can too! You might choose two brands, examine them, examine what it means to "have a relationship with a brand" and conclude that this idea does not hold water and has no benefits for marketers, in the process explaining why Dr. Fournier is wrong in your opinion. On the other hand you might conclude that her idea holds for one of the brands you have examined and not for the other, or perhaps holds for some people and not for others. Contrasting the two will be very important in that instance. Or you might conclude that it holds for both.
In addition, you needn't assume that relationships are necessarily good ones.
Case-related article:
Fournier S. (1998, Mar). Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research. 24, (4). Retrieved from Proquest July 19, 2009.
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