Consumer perception has a tremendous impact on the consumer decision process. Whether or not a consumer perceives a product feature as primarily hedonic or primarily functional shapes the way marketers need to communicate with the consumer. While there is several academic research available about the consumer perception towards certain product categories, studies exploring the consumer perception towards product features specifically have not been conducted before. In order to gain insight into the consumer perception towards car features an online questionnaire was distributed amongfriends of the author. The data was then analyzed and showed a general hedonic dominance over a total of eight tested car features. A closer look at the dimension levels of the tested car features showed significant results in four features. While aluminiumrims, metallic paint and sun roofs were perceived to be predominantly hedonic, xenon lights were perceived to be primarily functional. Additional insight was brought to light through correlation analyses, one-way ANOVA testing and multinominal regression analysis, indicating that age is a significant predictor of brand choice for owners of German premium cars. These insights were then brought into connection with marketing strategies and the consumer decision journey, illustrating the importance of hedonic car features over functional features in marketing campaigns. German premium car manufacturers have predominantly promoted their utilitarian attributes in recent years. The reason for this was a general trend in the industry, which focused on technical innovation in its brand building campaigns, instead of conveying an emotional message to the target group. The findings in this thesis suggests a realignment of current strategies, concentrating of hedonic attributes in order to maximize marketing effects.*****Consumer perception has a tremendous impact on the consumer decision process. Whether or not a consumer perceives a product feature as primarily hedonic or primarily functional shapes the way marketers need to communicate with the consumer. While there is several academic research available about the consumer perception towards certain product categories, studies exploring the consumer perception towards product features specifically have not been conducted before. In order to gain insight into the consumer perception towards car features an online questionnaire was distributed amongfriends of the author. The data was then analyzed and showed a general hedonic dominance over a total of eight tested car features. A closer look at the dimension levels of the tested car features showed significant results in four features. While aluminiumrims, metallic paint and sun roofs were perceived to be predominantly hedonic, xenon lights were perceived to be primarily functional. Additional insight was brought to light through correlation analyses, one-way ANOVA testing and multinominal regression analysis, indicating that age is a significant predictor of brand choice for owners of German premium cars. These insights were then brought into connection with marketing strategies and the consumer decision journey, illustrating the importance of hedonic car features over functional features in marketing campaigns. German premium car manufacturers have predominantly promoted their utilitarian attributes in recent years. The reason for this was a general trend in the industry, which focused on technical innovation in its brand building campaigns, instead of conveying an emotional message to the target group. The findings in this thesis suggests a realignment

James Ruppert explains why German cars from the 1980s were quite simply, wunderbar. Because when it came to build quality, reliability and performance, every other car made anywhere else in the world was rubbish. The 1980s was a time when if you went shopping a VW Polo was the perfect companion. Beating an MG away from the lights was dead easy in a GTI and making a lasting impression meant arriving in an SL, SLC or any enormous Mercedes S-Class. It was a time when BMW M3s were racing certainties and a Quattro Turbo would always stay glued to the road. Getting poolside and on the sun lounger before the Germans only required one of their fine Audi 100 Avants. Proper showing off meant a Porsche 911 Turbo with its wonderful attention seeking tea tray rear spoiler. And the model that every young, upwardly mobile professional wanted parked outside his or her mews flat was a BMW 3 Series. Ruppert details how all these companies progressed to the 1980s and just what they did when they got there. Luckily he was there too, flogging BMWs at the prestigious West End Showroom in Park Lane, to yuppies, film stars and anyone else who could afford the non-refundable 10% deposit. From the author of the critically acclaimed, "The British Car Industry Our Part in its Downfall," here is his unique take on the German one, and why it won.

This book examines issues and implications of digital and social media marketing for emerging markets. These markets necessitate substantial adaptations of developed theories and approaches employed in the Western world. The book investigates problems specific to emerging markets, while identifying new theoretical constructs and practical applications of digital marketing. It addresses topics such as electronic word of mouth (eWOM), demographic differences in digital marketing, mobile marketing, search engine advertising, among others. A radical increase in both temporal and geographical reach is empowering consumers to exert influence on brands, products, and services. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital media are having a significant impact on the way people communicate and fulfil their socio-economic, emotional and material needs. These technologies are also being harnessed by businesses for various purposes including distribution and selling of goods, retailing of consumer services, customer relationship management, and influencing consumer behaviour by employing digital marketing practices. This book considers this, as it examines the practice and research related to digital and social media marketing.

Intended for the social scientist who must develop a rating on attitudes, values and opinions, this text provides information on the construction of more effective scales. It includes information on how to validate a scale and how to develop a summated rating scale based on classical test theory.

Discover the secrets to successful luxury brand management with this bestselling guide written by two of the world's leading experts on luxury branding, Jean-Noël Kapferer and Vincent Bastien, providing a unique blueprint for luxury brands and companies. Having established itself as the definitive work on the essence of a luxury brand strategy, this book defines the differences between premium and luxury brands and products, analyzing the nature of true luxury brands and turning established marketing 'rules' upside-down. Written by two world experts on luxury branding, The Luxury Strategy provides the first rigorous blueprint for the effective management of luxury brands and companies at the highest level. This fully revised second edition of The Luxury Strategy explores the diversity of meanings of 'luxury' across different markets. It rationalizes those business models that have achieved profitability and unveils the original methods that were used to transform small family businesses such as Ferrari, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel, Armani, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren into profitable global brands. Now with a new section on marketing and selling luxury goods online and the impact of social networks and digital developments, this book has truly cemented its position as the authority on luxury strategy.

Loyalty is one of the main assets of a brand. In today’s markets, achieving and maintaining loyal customers has become an increasingly complex challenge for brands due to the widespread acceptance and adoption of diverse technologies by which customers communicate with brands. Customers use different channels (physical, web, apps, social media) to seek information about a brand, communicate with it, chat about the brand and purchase its products. Firms are thus continuously changing and adapting their processes to provide customers with agile communication channels and coherent, integrated brand experiences through the different channels in which customers are present. In this context, understanding how brand management can improve value co-creation and multichannel experience—among other issues—and contribute to improving a brand’s portfolio of loyal customers constitutes an area of special interest for academics and marketing professionals. This Special Issue explores new areas of customer loyalty and brand management, providing new insights into the field. Both concepts have evolved over the last decade to encompass such concepts and practices as brand image, experiences, multichannel context, multimedia platforms and value co-creation, as well as relational variables such as trust, engagement and identification (among others).

How can we design innovative food experiences that enhance food pleasure and consumer well-being? Through a wide variety of empirical, methodological, and theoretical contributions, which examine the art of designing innovative food experiences, this edited book explores the relationship between design thinking, food experience, and food well-being. While many aspects of food innovation are focused on products' features, in this book, design thinking follows an experiential perspective to create a new food innovation design logic that integrates two aspects: consumer food well-being and the experiential pleasure of food. It integrates a holistic perspective to understand how designing innovative food experiences, instead of food products, can promote healthy and pleasurable eating behaviors among consumers and help them achieve their food well-being. Invaluable for scholars, food industry professionals, design thinkers, students, and amateurs alike, this book will define the field of food innovation for years to come.