Download Grönroos, Christian. From marketing mix to relationship marketing

BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Table of contents
1.
2.
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1.
Thesis statement ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.2.
Research questions.................................................................................................................. 3
1.3.
Theory of science and methodology ....................................................................................... 3
1.4.
Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................ 4
1.5.
Delimitations ........................................................................................................................... 6
1.6.
Structure .................................................................................................................................. 7
The theoretical disciplines of branding and relationship marketing ............................................... 7
2.1.
The fiscal focus (David Aaker).................................................................................................. 8
2.1.1.
The brand identity planning model ................................................................................. 8
2.1.1.1.
Strategic brand analysis ............................................................................................... 9
2.1.1.2.
Brand Identity ............................................................................................................ 10
1.1.
The relationship focus (Susan Fournier) ................................................................................ 12
1.2.
The loyalty focus (Christian Grönroos) .................................................................................. 16
1.3. Part Conclusion; What defines successful retention of consumers in relation to brand
relationships? .................................................................................................................................... 19
2.
Discourse analysis .......................................................................................................................... 20
2.1.
Introducing the Iphone advert .............................................................................................. 20
2.1.1.
2.1.2.
The ideational metafunction ......................................................................................... 21
The interpersonal function ................................................................................................ 21
2.1.2.1.
2.1.3.
2.1.4.
Modality markers ...................................................................................................... 23
The textual metafunction .................................................................................................. 23
Sound features............................................................................................................... 24
2.1.5.
Part conclusion; How does the “under the cover” video communicate a wish to retain
current customers? ........................................................................................................................... 24
3.
Discussion – Apple, branding and retention of consumers ........................................................... 26
4.
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 29
Works cited ............................................................................................................................................ 31
Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 33
Page 1 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
1. Introduction
February 11, 2011 Nokia’s CEO announced that Nokia would create an alliance with
Microsoft to increase their chances to compete with Apple’s iPhone products: "Nokia is
at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey
forward," said Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO. "Today, we are accelerating that
change through a new path, aimed at regaining our Smartphone leadership, reinforcing
our mobile device platform and realizing our investments in the future” (App 1). In
addition, “Nokia expects mobile devise industry gross margins to come under pressure
due to competitive factors” (App 1). Also in February 2011, rumors stated that a 5th
edition of the iPhone would see the market (App 2). So far, observers will note that
Apple has shown ability and capability to arouse interest about upcoming products.
Every time the company launches a new product, a massive hype is created getting the
attention of the whole world. A good example was when the company in 2010 put the
then new iPhone 4 into production. The world found out about the news through
YouTube, generating over 4.2 million hits (App 3). Apparently someone had left the
iPhone 4 prototype at a bar and it fell into the hands of an It-specialist who rated it in a
viral video that was posted on YouTube (App 4). Assumably this was a media stunt
created by Apple to create awareness about the new iPhone 4. Throughout the years
other publicity stunts similar to the one with the iPhone 4 have been made.
Nevertheless, the cardinal point of interest is to understand how Apple can maintain a
leader position in a dynamic and competitive market and retain their customers.
According to the latest annual report Apple had an increase in the net sales of their
iPhone and other related products by 93% (App 5) where Nokia only had an increase by
5 % in their devices and services from 2009 to 2010 (App 6). Thus, the thesis will
examine how Apple can retain their consumers in such a competitive market. The
purpose and advantage of retaining customers for any brand is long term sales,
differentiation, competitive advantage and customer relations (Payne 54-6). Retention
of customers is in this thesis defined as loyalty/commitment towards a brand and the
entire product portfolio. In this context the thesis will examine the advertisement
“Under the Cover” (App 7) in terms of visual persuasive means of discourse analysis in
order to delimitate the scope of the thesis and offer even more concrete conclusions to
the thesis statement besides the findings through branding and relationship marketing
theory.
Page 2 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
1.1.
Thesis statement
With an outset in three different paradigms of branding and relationship
marketing, how can the Apple brand retain their customers and to which degree
does this affect their ability to compete in the dynamic market of Smartphones?
1.2.
Research questions
In order to answer the thesis statement the following research questions will be
answered in order to guide the structure of the thesis.
1: What defines successful retention of customers in relation to brand
relationships according to;
A) David Aaker and his fiscal oriented paradigm.
B) Susan Fournier and her relationship oriented paradigm.
C) Christian Grönroos and his commitment/loyalty oriented paradigm.
2: How does the Apple advertisement “Under the Covers” communicate a wish to
retain current Apple customers?
3: To which extend does the Apple advertisement “Under the Covers” affect the
company’s ability to successfully retain customers?
1.3.
Theory of science and methodology
This thesis holds the world view of social constructionism. Following the paradigms of
social constructionism means that the world cannot be seen as ‘Tabula Rasa’, like the
thoughts held in positivistic paradigms. Since the results of branding are interactions
between a brand and its users, the phenomena itself is a social constructionist paradigm.
“Social constructionism cautions us to be ever suspicious of our assumptions about how
the world appears to be” (Burr 3). The social constructionist paradigm is rooted in the
thought that “our ways of understanding the world come not from objective reality but
from people, both past and present” (Burr 6). The methodology of this paper will be
based on classical hermeneutics as the thesis seeks to understand the different branding
Page 3 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
and relationship marketing theories while applying these theories to the interpretation
of the Apple advertisement.
Hermeneutics is the art of understanding through interpretation and Schleiermacher
argues that “we understand something by comparing it to something we already know”
(Palmer 87). Since this thesis attempts to understand how Apple can retain their
customers in the dynamic market of smartphones, the hermeneutic approach and the
hermeneutic circle are useful tools. This thesis will use the classical approach to
Hermeneutics as the paper seeks to interpret the meaning between sender and text.
Schleiermacher states that “understanding as an art is the reexperiencing of the mental
processes of the text’s author” (Palmer 87). Through the discourse analysis of an iPhone
advertisement the thesis seeks to interpret Apple’s meaning with the text, hence what
are they communicating and why. The notion of the hermeneutic circle will be used as
the thesis tries to grasp the whole before understanding the parts. Schleiermacher states
that “we must understand the whole and the parts together” (Palmer 87) which will be
expressed in this thesis through the notion of shared understanding. Specifically this
means that the author of the thesis expects, like expressed through the hermeneutic
circle, the readers to have knowledge about the topics in the thesis. “One must already
have, in some measure, a knowledge of the matter being discussed” (Palmer 87). The
objective of the thesis is to provide the reader with valuable information of how
branding strategies and relationship marketing can help companies to retain their
customers. Specifically, this means that the thesis will try to understand theories
through interpretation and apply these theories to the discourse analysis of the iPhone
advertisement later in the thesis.
This thesis uses in-text citations followed by parenthesis with author name and page
number as suggested by the Modern language association, MLA (Fowler 647-60). In
situations where authors are cited in more than one work, the first word in the title will
be included in the parenthesis.
1.4.
Theoretical framework
The main authors to be used in this thesis will be David Aaker, Susan Fournier, and
Christian Grönroos. They all work in the field of branding and relationship marketing
but have different paradigms of thought.
Page 4 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
David Aaker was in 2007 named one of the world’s top five gurus in branding and
marketing theory and he has published many books and scientific articles based on his
research in the field of branding (App 8). Aaker seems to hold a consumer oriented view
to branding which is seen through his brand equity model and his brand identity model.
However, in his early work Aaker defined brand equity as “a set of assets (and liabilities)
linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided
by a product or a service to a firm and/or that firm’s customers” (Aaker 8). This
definition is based on accounting terms (assets and liabilities) and since Aaker states
that brand identity “is central to a brand’s strategic vision and the driver of one of the
four principal dimensions of brand equity: associations …“(68) it is argued that even
though the end goal of the brand identity model appears to be a brand-customer
relationship his perspective of branding is still fiscal, meaning that, for him, branding
has a monetary end-result. Based on his guru status and experience, Aaker was chosen
as one of the key authors in this thesis even though he cannot be considered to follow
the scientific paradigm of social constructionism. It is argued that David Aaker belongs
to a more post-positivistic school of thought as he seeks to find one universal truth to
brand building.
Susan Fournier, on the other hand, works only within the paradigm of relationships,
hence that branding should create a relationship between the brand and the customer.
In her work, Consumers and their brands, Fournier argues about the importance of her
relationship paradigm; “The brand has no objective existence at all: it is simply a
collection of perceptions held in the minds of the consumer” (345). This specific view is
an interesting diversity compared to Aaker which is why Fournier has been chosen as
one of the key authors used in this thesis in order to provide the reader with a thorough
insight to branding and relationship marketing theory. Fournier has been a professor at
Harvard Business School and Boston University and has received many best article
awards from her work published in numerous scientific journals (App 9).
Christian Grönroos also works within the paradigm of relationship marketing, hence
with the notion that branding strategies and marketing initiatives fosters loyal
customers which then establishes a brand-customer relationship. The real difference
between Grönroos and Fournier is Fournier’s notion about brand-as-partner which
seems to be a much stronger customer-relationship orientation than the one held by
Page 5 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Grönroos. Grönroos was chosen as one of the key authors in this paper due to his work
in service and relationship marketing which holds, what this paper calls a loyalty focus.
Grönroos has been awarded for his publications about service, management and
relationship marketing in scientific journals and for his books (App 10).
The reason why this thesis includes these three different paradigms of thought is related
to the theory of scientific methods. Through the theoretical chapter the thesis will go
through key concepts in branding and relationship marketing theory in order to
understand the whole as suggested by the methodology of the hermeneutic circle.
1.5.
Delimitations
Due to a limited number of characters this paper will only analyze the Apple advert
“Under the Covers” through the analytical tools suggested by Kress and Van Leeuwen.
This means that other theorists such as Roland Barthes, Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles
Sanders Pierce, Ernst Gombrich and Rieck Iedema have not been used in this paper even
though their contributions would have benefitted the paper. In addition to this, the
paper will not analyze any textual features of the communication from Apple. This
would, however, give an even more thorough analysis of the brand and create an
understanding of how they try to retain their customers. This thesis will not apply all the
provided theory from the theoretical chapter to the Apple brand to the fullest, due to the
scope of the paper. It would be interesting to look at the Apple advertisement through
philosophical hermeneutics, hence to interpret the relationship between text and
receivers however that is not within the scope of the thesis. Finally, it is acknowledged
that there are many other ways, used by Apple, which might improve their chances to
retain their customers than the ones found in this thesis.
Page 6 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
1.6.
Structure
The following model was developed by the author of this thesis and it portrays the
structure of the paper which also reflects the theory of science and the methodology of
the thesis, hence that everything is interrelated.
2. The theoretical disciplines of branding and relationship marketing
The following chapter will examine three different viewpoints related to branding and
relationship marketing theories. This will create a broader understanding of different
practices and lead to a point where a more thorough answer to the problem statement is
possible. This chapter will also relate the empirical findings to the Apple brand in order
to create a link between the analysis of branding and relationship marketing theory and
the specific Apple case.
Page 7 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
2.1.
The fiscal focus (David Aaker)
In order to answer the first research question, which was, what defines successful
retention of customers in relation to brand relationships according to Aaker, it is
important to get an overview of his key work. In 1991 Aaker developed his model on
brand equity which was determined as a set of assets which needed to be invested in, in
order to create and enhance value (Aaker 8). Around 1996 Aaker then developed his
brand identity model and stated that brand identity was the driver of brand association
which was one of the five types of assets that could create value for a brand according to
the brand equity model (Aaker 68). In 2000 Aaker published, in cooperation with Erich
Joachimsthaler, a book on brand leadership. According to Aaker and Joachimsthaler
brand leadership is part of the core identity for many brands (66). This means that all of
Aakers branding models are interrelated with a focus on building a brand identity with
strong value propositions. The brand identity planning model defines how a brand
successfully can attract and retain customers in order to gain profit and create a brandcustomer relationship. This thesis will therefore go through the model in order to
provide the reader with an overview of the fiscal focus held by David Aaker. To
elaborate on this perspective in a critical manner this report will use theory of Jean-Noel
Kapferer who has developed a similar model called the Brand Identity Prism.
2.1.1. The brand identity planning model
David Aaker suggests that the ultimate goal of the brand identity system is to build a
strong brand – customer relationship (77). He continues by stating that “brand identity
should be strategic, reflecting a business strategy that will lead to sustainable
advantage” (70). Sustainable advantage is here assumed to refer to monetary gains.
Hence, a strong brand identity should lead to an increase in sales for the company which
is agued to be the end goal of any branding initiative. The brand identity planning model
consists of three main steps to consider when developing a brand identity. The first step
is the strategic brand analysis where the customer, the competitor and the
brand/company is analyzed (Aaker 79). The second step of the process is the creation of
a brand identity system. This includes an analysis of the brand identity in terms of the
core and the extended core of a brand and the determination of the value proposition
and credibility in relation to competitors which all should lead to a brand – customer
relationship in order to create sustainable advantage (Aaker 79). The third and final
overall step of the brand identity planning model is the brand identity implementation
Page 8 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
system. This step includes the brand position, execution and tracking (Aaker 79),
however, the thesis will not go through implementation as it is not in the scope of this
thesis.
2.1.1.1.
Strategic brand analysis
Step one in David Aaker’s brand identity
planning model is to develop a strategic
brand
analysis.
This
concept
includes
customer analysis in terms of trends,
motivation, needs and segmentation (Aaker
79) which might help the brand to
understand their customers and hence a
better ability to establish a brand-customer
relationship. The strategic brand analysis
also includes competitor analysis which
encompasses brand image, strengths and
vulnerabilities (Aaker 79) which might help
the brand to differentiate themselves from
competitors. Finally, the strategic brand
analysis should also include a self-analysis
of one’s own brand (Aaker 79) which can
Source: Aaker, Brand, 79.
help the brand refrain from falling into what Aaker calls brand identity traps. When
looking at Apple’s annual report from 2010 it is obvious that the company has made
these considerations. A good example is the statement that;
“the principal competitive factors include price, product features, relative
price/performance ... the company expects competition in these industries to intensify
significantly as competitors attempt to imitate some of the Iphone and Ipad features … or,
alternatively, collaborate with each other to offer solutions that are more competitive
…”(App 5).
This statement indicates that Apple has thought about the competitive factors which
also relates to the context of this thesis, hence that Nokia and Microsoft has made an
agreement to collaborate with each other in order to compete with Apple. Jean-Noel
Page 9 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Kapferer agrees to a large extend with Aaker’s strategic brand analysis and his thoughts
will be included later.
2.1.1.2.
Brand Identity
The reason why this report deals with brand identity and not brand image has to do
with the theory of science used. Dealing with brand image would relate to a
philosophical hermeneutic interpretation, to interpret the customer’s perception of the
brand, and since this thesis deals with the meaning of the sender, only brand identity
theory will be interpreted.
“Brand identity should help establish a relationship between the brand and the
customer by generating a value proposition involving functional, emotional or selfexpressive benefits” (Aaker 68). David Aaker argues that the brand identity structure
contains a core identity and an extended identity (Aaker 86). “The core identity, which is
central to both the meaning and success of the brand, contains the associations that are
most likely to remain constant as the brand travels to new markets and products”
(Aaker 86). For Apple, the core identity is argued to be reliable, easy-to-use personal
computers, mobile communications and media devices that make the users ‘Think
Different’(ly) which is the slogan. The core identity should, according to Aaker, capture
the soul of the brand along with fundamental beliefs, and core competencies (87). The
extended identity of a brand is then the outer layer of the onion, so to speak. “It fills in
the picture, adding details that help portray what the brand stands for” (Aaker 87-8).
Aaker determines four main identity types; brand-as-product, brand-as-organization,
brand-as-person and brand-as-symbol (79). Brand-as-product, he claims, is often the
core element of a brand’s identity and it includes directly related attributes of a product,
e.g. quality, value and user associations (Aaker 80-1). Brand-as-organization holds,
according to Aaker, a focus on the organization of the brand. This can be innovation,
quality, people etc (82-3). Brand-as-person is the personality of a brand. This type of
identity defines a brand through human characteristics such as fun, caring, innovative,
creative or youthful (Aaker 83). This concept can easily be related to Susan Fournier’s
argument about anthropomorphization, i.e. to provide the brand object with human
characteristics which will be exemplified later. Aaker argues that “a brand personality
can create a stronger brand in several ways … it can help create a self-expressive benefit
that becomes the vehicle for the customer to express his or her own personality” (83).
Page 10 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Aaker uses Apple users as an example and states that “an Apple user might identify
himself or herself as casual, anti-corporate, and creative” (84). Brand-as-symbol, the
fourth personality type, David Aaker argues, “can provide cohesion and structure to an
identity and make it much easier to gain recognition and recall” (84), For Apple, this
would be their recognizable logo, the apple. It is argued that the Apple brand’s extended
identity can be seen as having all the four before mentioned benefits but the most
interesting one, in relation to the scope of this thesis, is brand-as-person. Aaker argues
that “brand personality can be the basis of a relationship between the customer and the
brand” (84). In the Brand Personality Scale (Aaker 144) and through the author of this
thesis’ own observations, Apple could fit into the sincere and/or the exciting brand
personality which can be characterized by Apple’s friendly, cool and innovative
personality. Jean Nöel Kapferer has also developed a brand identity model, and argues
that there are six facets of a brand’s identity as shown below (99). The model resembles
the brand identity planning model of David Aaker. The physical facet and the personality
facet can be compared to what Aaker calls brand-as-person, organization, product and
symbol. The culture facet, relationship facet, the reflected consumer facet and the selfimage facet can all be compared to Aakers value proposition; functional benefits,
emotional benefits and self-expressive benefits (Aaker 79). The real difference between
the two models is the fact that Kapferer puts great emphasis in separating the external
facets from the internal facets and he also puts great emphasis on the concept of culture
which Aaker does not mention anywhere. For Aaker, a value proposition “is a statement
Page 11 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
of the functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits delivered by the brand that
provide value to the customer. An effective value proposition should lead to a brandcustomer relationship and drive purchase decisions” (95), hence increased sales. What
both of these theorists agree on is that a brand’s identity is what it communicates, and
that an effective identity communication should lead a brand-customer relationship
which should retain consumers which leads this paper to the interpretation of the
relationship focus held by Susan Fournier.
1.1.
The relationship focus (Susan Fournier)
Even though Susan Fournier shares some viewpoints regarding successful branding
with David Aaker, her focus is still very different from his. Fournier argues that what
really differentiates one brand from another is the ability to establish lasting
relationships with the customer. Even though Aaker states that the brand-customer
relationship is the bottom line of the brand identity model (103), his focuses is still more
on the path to get there, hence the brand identity and the value proposition. In
Fournier’s work, Consumers and Their Brands, she also states that consumers form
relationships with the brands they know and use, which is why, she argues, one must
understand the consumer-brand interactions in everyday life (344). Fournier argues
that “For a relationship to truly exist, interdependence between partners must be
evident: that is, the partners must collectively affect, define and redefine the
relationship” (Consumers, 344). Susan Fournier argues about the brand-as-partner
notion which, she states, can be seen in the way brands are humanized and animated
(344). She continues, by stating that “consumers show no difficulty in consistently
assigning personality qualities to inanimate brand objects, in thinking about brands as if
they were human characters, or in assuming the perspective of the brand in order to
articulate their own relationship views” (Fournier, Consumers, 344-5).
Fournier’s notion of brand-as-partner can to a certain degree be compared to David
Aaker’s brand-as-person in the brand identity system, which was elaborated in the
previous paragraph. Aaker’s brand-as-person also portrays an identity with human
characteristics. However, the work of Fournier focuses, to a much larger extend, on
understanding the partnership between customers and their brands because it leads to
a broader understanding of the customer. Consumers accept the fact that marketers and
branding experts tries to humanize brands and respond positively to it because of the
Page 12 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
human need to become “members of the relationship dyad” (Fournier, Consumers, 345).
Apple could for instance be an example of a humanized brand with the human
characters like friendly, cool and innovative. Fournier bases her work on theories of
animism and notes that there are three process mechanisms that constitutes these
theories and argues that these three animistic mechanisms needs to be understood and
considered when creating a successful brand that can retain customers. “The first
animistic form involves instances in which the brand is somehow possessed by the spirit
of a past or present other” (Fournier, Consumers, 345). The first step, Fournier argues,
can be examples of the use of spokespersons in branding, but can also be a memory of a
brand used by ones grandmother or another spirit from the past or the present
(Consumers, 345). When looking at the Apple brand one could argue that Steve Jobs
might perform the job as a spokesperson too, which according to Fournier, is another
way to humanize a brand. “Another form of animism involves complete
anthropomorphization of the brand object itself, with transference of the human
qualities of emotionality, thought, and volition” (Fournier, Consumers, 345). This second
step, Fournier argues, is seen in branding where the brand symbols have human traits,
for instance the Apple logo; an apple with a bite taken could portray the human traits of
sincerity and irresistibility and somehow relate to the Garden of Eden. “For the brand to
serve as legitimate relationship partner, it must surpass the personification qualification
and actually behave as an active, contributing member of the dyad”(Fournier,
Consumers, 345). The key words here are interaction with consumers and also
addressability (Fournier, Consumers, 345). According to Susan Fournier, these are some
of the factors that successfully can retain customers. However, she argues, “all observed
behaviors are translated into trait language and (that) these traits form the basis for the
evaluative concept of the person” (Consumers, 345). This means that in the traditional
marketing mix decisions are personality traits and behaviors of the brand (Consumers,
345) which relates to Grönroos’ argument that the traditional marketing mix is
outdated, which this thesis will return to later. Fournier states that “with a focus on
brand behavior, one can articulate a theory of how the brand relationship role is
constructed and begin to see ways in which the brand, acting as an enlivened partner in
the relationship, contributes to initiation, maintenance, and destruction of consumerbrand relationship bonds” (Fournier, Consumers, 345).
Page 13 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Fournier continues by arguing that “understanding a given relationship requires a
mastery of the meanings the relationship provides to the person who engages it”
(Consumers, 345). She states that there are three important sources of meaning;
psychological, sociocultural and the relational meaning (Fournier, Consumers, 346).
Through her work with brand-consumer relationships, Susan Fournier has developed a
model of brand relationship quality and its effects on relationship stability which is
shown below;
The first step in the model is the notion
that the meaning creation, elaboration
and reinforcement processes between
brand
behaviors
and
consumer
behaviors are reciprocal exchanges,
hence a circular process that involves
exchanges
between
active
and
interdependent relationship partners
(Fornier, Consumers, 344). The second
step in the model determines which
type of relationship the consumer can
have with a brand. Fournier has
Source: Fournier, Consumers, 366.
established six types; love/passion, selfconnection, commitment, interdependence,
intimacy and brand partner quality which all lead to the third step, which are the
different affects of these types of relationships. Fournier proposes fives affects;
accommodation, tolerance/forgiveness, biased partner perceptions, devaluation of
alternatives and, attribution biases which Fournier argues to be factors that lead to
relationship stability and durability (Consumers, 366). These factors can be compared to
Aaker’s value proposition which describes the functional, self-expressive and emotional
benefits of the relationship, as stated earlier in this thesis. Fournier argues that “once a
significant relationship is established, the meaning of the brand becomes inseparable
from the value of the product class per se” (Fournier, Consumers, 368), hence a
possibility to retain customers and thereby increase sales. It is observed, that in relation
to the Apple brand, many users feel a strong commitment to the product and owners of
an Iphone often also have a MacBook, an IMac or an IPad (App 11) which is argued to be
Page 14 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
an instance of devaluating alternatives which leads to relationship stability and
durability according to Fournier’s model (Consumers, 366). In another study by Susan
Fournier, Jennifer Aaker and Adam Brasel the researchers also determine that “research
has shown that relationships are influenced by the personalities of the partners
involved” (When, 2) which again be related to Steve Jobs and his enthusiastic and
trustworthy personality. According to these researchers, there are many personality
factors that can make or break a relationship, for instance, whether failures are avoided,
problems resolved and dependability, reliability and trustworthiness are also important
factors in sustaining relationships with consumers” (Fournier, Aaker and Brasel, When,
2). Fournier et al argue that there are two main types of brand personalities. These are
the sincere and the exciting brand personalities (When, 2). It is argued that the Apple
brand can be put under the category of an exciting brand personality due to the fact that
Fournier et al determine an exciting brand personality as brands that “attempt
differentiation trough unique and irreverent advertizing, atypical brand logos, and hip
language” (2). An exciting brand personality is also “seeking differentiation against
incumbent market leaders” (Fournier, Aaker and Brasel, When, 2). An example that
proves Apple to have an exciting brand personality is their Get a Mac campaign which
ran virally and in television from 2006 to 2009 and used hipness and irreverent
advertizing to promote their superiority towards Microsoft (App 12). “A second factor
often singled out for its determinant effects on relationship strength is the commission
of a transgression, which refers to a violation of the implicit or explicit rules guiding
relationship performance and evaluation” (Fournier et al, When, 3). According to these
researchers transgressions serves as salient factors when determining relationships as it
provides opportunities to learn about the qualities of the relationship partner (When, 3).
Fournier et al argues that all transgressions are significant and can affect the
relationship
progress
despite
of
differences in severity (When, 3). For
a brand like Apple, this means that in
the
occurrence
of
any
kind
of
transgression the company needs to
handle it with care and remember
Source: Fournier et al, When, 3
that
the
way
they
handle
the
Page 15 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
transgression reflects the brand quality held by the consumer. The model rests on the
premise that consumers make assumptions about a brand based on observations of the
behaviors over time which creates assessments for the possible role as a relationship
partner (Fournier el al, When, 3). “These partner quality inferences allow development
processes to occur, thereby governing reactions to interrupt events such as
transgressions” (Fournier et al, When 3). In relation to the Apple brand which earlier
was argued to be an exciting brand, Fournier found that transgressions in an exciting
brand would lead to increased interdependency and increased commitment to the
brand, hence a stronger partner quality, as opposed to sincere brands where
transgressions would damage the relationship (Fournier et al, When, 13). Even though
Susan Fournier suggests that ”brand relationship quality is similar in spirit to brand
loyalty: both constructs attempt to capture the strength of the connection formed
between the consumer and the brand toward a prediction of relationship stability over
time” (Consumers, 367), this thesis now moves to the brand loyalty focus held by
Christian Grönroos in order to provide the reader with a thorough overview of the
discipline of branding and relationship marketing.
1.2.
The loyalty focus (Christian Grönroos)
Like Fournier, Christian Grönroos is part of the relationship marketing school. However,
Even though Grönroos argues for relationships in his work in service marketing, his
focus and end goal of relationship marketing is loyalty or commitment as he calls it.
Kapferer argues that “Service is by definition relationship” (103). Grönroos defines
relationship marketing as “a process of identifying and establishing, maintaining,
enhancing, and when necessary terminating relationships with customers and other
stakeholders, at a profit, so that the objectives of all parties involved are met, where this
is done by a mutual giving and fulfillment of promises” (Love, 47).
This definition can be resembled with the relationship argument held by Fournier which
stated that “… the relationship contributes to initiation, maintenance, and destruction of
consumer-brand relationship bonds” (Consumers, 345). Grönroos argues that “the
uppermost goal of relationship marketing is to create customer commitment” (Love 47),
which to a certain degree resembles Fournier’s notion that what really differentiates one
brand from another is the ability to establish lasting relationships, as stated earlier.
Grönroos also shares some viewpoints with David Aaker and his notion on sustainable
Page 16 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
advantage, for instance, Grönroos states that “establishing a relationship, for example
with a customer, can be divided into two parts: to attract the customer and to build the
relationship with that customer so that the economic goals of that relationship are
achieved” (From, 327). Grönroos believes that the traditional marketing mix, the 4 P’s, is
outdated and that relationship marketing is the future. Thus a different viewpoint than
the one held by Fournier who argues that the 4 P’s can be seen as behavioral traits of a
brand (Consumers, 354). Grönroos states that “the simplicity of the model (Marketing
Mix) seduces teachers to toolbox thinking instead of constantly reminding them of the
fact that marketing is a social process with far more facets than that” (From, 333).
Grönroos suggests that “what marketing deserves are new perspectives, which are more
market-oriented and less manipulative, and where the customer, indeed, is the focal
point…” (From, 333). He continues by predicting that “today, it (relationship marketing)
is still an exotic phenomenon on the outskirts of the marketing map. In the future, this
will change” (Grönroos, From, 333). Christian Grönroos has therefore developed a
marketing
strategy
continuum
which
is
shown
below.
Source: Grönroos, From, 329.
This continuum determines the advantages in relationship marketing over old school
transaction marketing. One notable issue in the continuum is the part about price
elasticity. Grönroos argues that when you have attracted your customers and have built
a relationship with them they will not be as sensitive to price (From, 329). This is an
Page 17 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
interesting discovery when relating the continuum to Apple’s products which are always
much more expensive than the competing prices (App 13). Adrian Payne agrees with
Grönroos and argues that “marketing is now increasingly concerned with relationship
marketing – the business of attracting, retaining and enhancing long-term client
relationships” (Payne 53). Grönroos and colleagues have determined that “the basis for
any type of relationship is the initial attraction towards a product” (Love, 50) and argue
that there are two levels of relationships, the relational mode and relationship
proneness (Love, 49) (See model below). The model should be interpreted as a
continuum beginning with the passive relational mode at the top and ending with the
most committed/loyal relationships, called
relational
proneness.
colleagues
determined,
Grönroos
and
trough
their
research, that initial attractiveness is
needed to form a relationship, and that
different cues creates attraction (Love, 51).
“Visual product cues, such as design,
aesthetics, or store design, may contribute
to
this
attractiveness,
alongside
the
products functional characteristics, such as
functionality, durability, or reliability”
Source: Grönroos et al, Love, 51.
(Grönross et al, Love, 51). This can to some
extend
be
compared
to
Fournier’s
argument about the importance of customer involvement which was determined earlier
in this thesis; Grönroos states that involvement is present after the purchase of a
product and is defined as “a consumer’s enduring perception of the importance of the
product category (personal relevance) that results from the consumers values, needs,
and interests” (Grönross, Love, 51). From here, the customer can be passive or active in
the relationship depending on his or her level of involvement. “The passive relational
mode is established when the physical product is consistently of high quality, and is
often established after the initial purchase of a product. It evolves into an active
relational mode, when the customer starts developing a relationship with the product”
(Grönross et al, Love, 49).
Page 18 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Relational proneness, the second relational level, is the most committed consumer.
According to the researchers this relational level occurs “when consumers wish to be
involved with the firm, and repeatedly purchase from that firm across a range of
products” (Grönross et al, Love, 49) which can be related to some Apple consumers who
repeatedly buy different Apple products (App 11); This has the effect of increased sales
for Apple which is the goal of any marketing initiative. Grönroos and colleagues
acknowledge the fact that “product involvement can thus directly develop into
satisfaction without the need for engaging in a relationship with a firm. This … route … is
likely to be taken by customers who are more functionally than emotionally oriented…”
(Love, 53). Adrian Payne argues that if a company wants customer retention and
thereby long-term relationships, there are three steps to take towards achieving that
goal (Payne 57). “Measurement of existing customer retention rates is the first critical
step in the task of improving loyalty” (Payne 57). “The second step … involves the
identification of the underlying causes of why customers defect” (Payne 59). “The third
and final step involves undertaking corrective action aimed at generating improved
customer loyalty” (Payne 60). In addition to the before mentioned framework, Adrian
Payne also argues, that “a good retention strategy should try to identify and build
barriers that stop customers from switching to the competition no matter what
inducements the competition is offering” (62). One way to build barriers, he argues, is by
strategic bundling. This phenomenon, he argues, is “groups of associated products or
services (that) are offered to the customers with the advantage of convenience and/or
cost savings (Payne 62)”. This is also a very interesting perspective that easily can be
related to the Apple brand; Apple products are observed as offering convenience for the
customer as the operating system of e.g. a Mac computer communicates better with the
iPhone than it does with the operating system from Microsoft, i.e. Windows. This leads
this report to a sub conclusion about how branding strategies can retain consumers of
smartphones.
1.3.
Part Conclusion; What defines successful retention of consumers in
relation to brand relationships?
It is evident that there are many ways to retain customers according to the above cited
researchers. Aaker, Fournier and Grönroos all put great emphasis on brand-customer
relationships if a brand wants to retain customers. There is an apparent shift in the art
of branding with a stronger focus on consumer relationships than earlier. In a way this
Page 19 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
shift resembles more a Japanese style of doing business than it resembles a European or
an American style, and this perspective will be discussed further in the discussion
chapter. The focal point of interest is how these theorists suggested a brand could
achieve customer retention; Aaker’s brand identity planning model showed how brand
identity, value proposition and credibility all leads to a brand-customer relationship
(Building, 79). Fournier argued that the brand-as-partner notion would lead to
relationship durability, hence retention, according to her brand relationship quality
model (Consumers, 367). Grönroos and colleagues developed a relationship model
which determined that relational proneness occurs when the customer of a brand has
the highest commitment level. This means repeatedly purchase across the whole
product portfolio. Before moving on to the discussion this thesis now provides the
reader with a discourse analysis of the Apple iPhone 4 advertisement “Under the
Covers”.
2. Discourse analysis
This thesis will now conduct a discourse analysis based on the Apple iPhone 4 advert
and through the analytical tools established by Kress and Van Leuween. This method is
based on a multimodal approach with means that categories of different behaviors are
used to analyze communication. The analysis is based on Kress and Van Leuween’s work
which was adopted from Michael Halliday called metafunctions. Halliday uses this term
in relation to written and spoken language, however, Kress and Van Leuween states that
“they apply to all semiotic modes and are not specific to speech or writing” (42). The
three modes are called the ideational metafunction, the interpersonal function and the
textual metafunction (Kress and Van Leuween 42-3) which all will be taken into
consideration in the analysis.
2.1.
Introducing the Iphone advert
The “Under the Covers” advert was on TV in December 2010 promoting the new
FaceTime feature on the Iphone 4. The tagline of the advert was “Facetime lets you
easily enjoy video-calls with people you really care about …. Such as Santa Claus” (App
14). The video shows a young boy receiving a video-call from Santa Claus who really is
his father calling him from the garage. The video puts a lot of emphasis on emotions and
is clearly targeted at people with children who can relate to the family oriented feeling
Page 20 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
which the video portrays. The video is a 30-second long video containing only images of
the storyline and the famous Christmas song “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” is
played. The following analysis will provide the reader with a thorough understanding of
the video through 9 still photos captured from the video which can be found in the
appendix (App 7).
2.1.1. The ideational metafunction
According to Kress and Van Leeuwen the ideational metafunction is the relationship
between structures and the participants and they distinguish between the conceptual
process and the narrative process (Kress and Van Leeuwen 42-3). The whole video is
argued to be a narrative process because of the very obvious vectors that are
represented. The constant vector in all the 9 still photos is the eye-line vector which
links the son to Santa Claus. According to Kress and van Leeuwen the participants linked
by a vector “are represented as doing something to or for each other” (59). The eye-line
vectors represent a conversation of some kind. “When the vector is formed by an eyeline, by the direction of the glance of one or more of the represented participants, the
process is Reactional, and we will speak … of Reacters … and of Phenomena” (Kress and
Van Leeuwen 67). The eye-line vectors connects the two participants in what Kress and
Van Leeuwen calls a transactional process which is why the father and the son can be
categorized as the Reacter and the Phenomenon. The phenomenon is what is being
looked at and the Reacter is the one looking. This means that in this advert, the Reacter
and the Phenomenon shifts between the father and the son. Both of them are smiling
which is a reaction of their conversation. In essence then, the ideational metafunction
portrays the farther and the son as happy people who look lovingly at each other. This
specific part of the advert can be related to many communication models, such as the
one conducted by Shannon and Weaver who represent communication as a chained
process with a beginning and an end (Kress and Van Leeuwen 68), which is portrayed in
the video with the goodbye wave.
2.1.2. The interpersonal function
In the ideational metafunction the relationship of the visually depicted representations
of interactions was established, now, moving on to establishing the relations between
the participants and the viewer (Kress and Van Leeuwen 114). Through an analysis of
the interpersonal function it is possible to determine the underlying message of the
Page 21 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
visuals. The gaze, the size of frame and the perspective can reveal this (Kress and Van
Leeuwen 116-48). According to Kress and Van Leeuwen the absence of gaze at the
viewer means that “the viewer’s role is that of an invisible onlooker … it offers the
represented participants to the viewer as items of information, objects of contemplation,
impersonality, as though they were specimens in a display case” (119). The absence of
gaze is found in most of the still photos taken from the video, these are then called offer
pictures (Kress and Van Leeuwen 119) However, in the “Under the Covers” advert there
are two instances of direct gaze at the viewer. This can be seen in image 2 and 5. This is
called a demand picture because the represented participants are demanding something
from the viewer (Kress and Van Leeuwen 116-7). The direct address to the viewer
creates a visual “you” involving the viewer to participate and “demands that the viewer
enter into some kind of imaginary relation with him or her” (Kress and Van Leeuwen
118). It is therefore argued that the advert is trying to get the viewer to relate to the
situation and with the smiling faces to “enter into a relation of social affinity with them”
(Kress and Van Leeuwen 118). Hence Apple is trying to create a relationship with the
viewer through the social interaction implied in the visuals. The size of the frame varies
in the still photos and this can determine the social distance in the image. Image 1, 6, 7
and 9 portrays the full figure of the represented participants which Kress and Van
Leeuwen calls close social distance (125) which means that the relation between viewer
and represented participants are impersonal. Image 1, 6, 7 and 9 are all images that do
not portray the loving interaction between the represented participants and they are
also all offer pictures. The rest of the still photos are close shots of the father and/or the
son. This gives a sense of intimacy and Kress and Van Leeuwen states that “the distances
people keep depend on their social relation” (125) which can be determined by the
context. This means that the advert is trying to communicate a feeling of intimacy to and
for the viewer.
“There is yet another way in which images bring about relations between
represented participants and the viewer: Perspective … the selection of angle, a ‘point of
view’ … implies the possibility of expressing subjective attitudes towards represented
participants, humans or otherwise” (Kress and Van Leeuwen 129). Since the
perspectives in all of the still photos from the “Under the Covers” advert are taken in a
frontal angle Kress and Van Leeuwen argues that they are subjective photos that tries to
Page 22 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
portray involvement (129-31). This means that the advert is trying to involve the viewer
making him or her, a part of their word.
2.1.2.1.
Modality markers
Modality deals with the reliability of an image, whether what is seen is real or fictional
(Kress and Van Leeuwen 154). Modality cues are interpersonal rather than ideational
which means that they do not express absolute truths or falsehoods (Kress and Van
Leeuwen 155). According to Kress and Van Leeuwen they provide the viewer with
shared truths that arises from our social reality (155) which is a compatible notion with
the theory of scientific methods used in this thesis. Modality markers can be color
saturation, color differentiation, color modulation, contextualization, representation,
depth, illumination and brightness (Kress and Van Leeuwen 154-74). The still photos
from the “Under the Covers” advert are very real in terms of all of these elements. Hence
the images are fully colored with a maximized diversified range of colors and the colors
are also fully modulated. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen this means that the
advert is communicating credibility and truth (155). “It serves to create an imaginary
‘we’. It says … these are the things ‘we’ consider true” (Kress and Van Leeuwen 155).
2.1.3. The textual metafunction
In terms of the textual metafunction Kress and Van Leeuwen have established three
interrelated systems that relate to the composition of the image, these are the
information value in the image, the salience and the framing (177). In the “Under the
Covers” advertisement all images are somehow polarized. Polarized compositions are
either composed with a given/new or an ideal/real angle (Kress and Van Leeuwen 17984). Since none of the images have any particular composed feature in the top or the
bottom of the image, it is argued that all the images have a Given-New composition. This
means that the information value lies in the right side of the image (Kress and Van
Leeuwen 179) which is the new information. This is obvious when looking at the
placement of the product, the iPhone 4, is placed on the right side in all the images,
except number 8. In all other images the Iphone is place on the right side which also has
something to do with salience. In visuals, salience is measured through specific elements
that draw specific attention; these can be color, tonal, values, sharpness, definition etc
(Kress and Van Leeuwen 202). It is argued that the most salient feature of the
composition is the feeling of coziness that the viewer senses while watching the video.
Page 23 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
The sense of Christmas spirit, family feel and all the smiles are the most salient features
which creates happiness in the minds of the viewer. Hence, again is Apple trying to
promote a brand identity that relates to the consumer hence the viewer. One final thing
to analyze in terms of the textual metafunction is how the composition is framed (Kress
and Van Leeuwen 203). Framing is about the so called rhythm in the image, hence are
there elements that are separated from one another or are they all connected (Kress and
Van Leeuwen 203). Frames are very obvious and can be frame lines or empty space
between images which is not the case in the “Under the Covers” advert. This means that
the elements in the images are visually joined and since it was established earlier that
the image contains eye-line vectors in every image, the connected framing argument is
valid.
2.1.4. Sound features
The video “Under the Covers” has a soundtrack so to speak. The underlying music is the
famous Christmas song written by Nat King Cole in 1944, “Chestnuts roasting on an open
fire” also known as “The Christmas Song”. The song is one of the most loved holyday
songs, and it is even in the Grammy Hall of Fame (App 15). The music is argued to be
very important to the visuals because it also creates a sense of relation with the viewer.
The loving feeling that is created through the visuals are thereby confirmed through the
music which indicates, to an even larger extend that Apple is communicating love, family
and a very obvious brand-customer relationship.
2.1.5. Part conclusion; How does the “under the cover” video communicate a
wish to retain current customers?
The video clearly communicates a wish to retain current Apple customers. The video
puts strong emphasis on the partnership values which Fournier states as being
important. The video is at the same time communicating a brand identity with a value
proposition containing emotional and functional benefits for the consumer as stated by
Aaker. Finally, the video portrays visual product cues which Grönroos argued would
establish initial attractiveness. Through the discourse analysis it was determined that;
the video offers information to the viewer which was determined through the absence of
gaze. It was also determined that the video at the same time tried to engage the viewer
through the direct gaze and the frontal angle which was analyzed as an attempt to
involve the viewer in the storyline, hence retain the relationship through social
Page 24 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
interaction. Another finding through the analysis was Apple’s attempt to communicate
intimacy and credibility to and for the viewer through the modality and the close up
shots. The determination of the creation of an imaginary ‘we’ was also established as an
attempt to retain relationships. Again it can be observed how the field of branding is
moving towards a more consumer oriented focus which will be discussed further in the
next chapter. “Reality is in the eye of the beholder” (Kress and Van Leeuwen 158) and it
is acknowledged throughout this thesis.
Page 25 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
3. Discussion – Apple, branding and retention of consumers
This section of the thesis will be a discussion about the specific theories held up against
the Apple brand and the context of the thesis. The model shows the conclusions made
through the understanding and interpretation of the theory used in the thesis. The focal
point of interest, however, is to determine how all of this relates to the Apple brand and
the context in which this thesis operates.
The fiscal focus;
The relationship
focus;
•Brand-as-partner ->
devaluation of
alternative brands
->stable and durable
relationships.
•Humanizing brands
(anthropomorphization)
-> retention of
customers.
•All behaviors are traits.
•Focus on brand behavior
-> construction of
relationship role
->retention (maitenance)
•Interaction with
customers -> retention.
•Strong brand identity ->
sustainable advantage.
•Value proposition and
credibility -> brand customer
relationship.
•Brand-as-person ->
selfexpressive benefits ->
stronger brand.
•Awareness of competitive
factors -> strong brand identity.
•Effective identity
communication -> retention of
customers.
The loyalty focus;
•Customer commitment =
ultimate goal in
marketing.
•Strong relationships ->
loyalty (committed
customers) -> less
sensitive to price.
•Initial attractiveness is
important to form a
relationship.
•Relational proneness =
loyalty.
•Associated products ->
customer loyalty.
?
Through the theoretical chapter it was observed that all three main authors put
emphasis on creating a brand-customer relationship which they all argued could create
retention or brand loyalty. Aaker states that brand-customer relationships can be
attained through a strong brand identity communication with an effective value
proposition that drives purchase decisions. The brand-as-person notion as an extended
Page 26 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
identity creates self-expressive benefits for the customer thereby contributing to a
brand-customer relationship. Aaker also states that through customer and competitor
analysis a brand can differentiate themselves from competitors while creating a brandcustomer relationship. Fournier states that the brand-as-partner notion would lead to a
customer-brand relationship that would contribute to maintaining the relationship
bond. She also argues that a strong relationship bond can lead the consumer to
devaluate alternative products from competitors. Trustworthiness and dependability
were argued to be partner qualities that can sustain relationships. Grönroos states that
the uppermost goal of relationship marketing is to create customer commitment and
that building a strong relationship can lead to achieved economic goals. The customer is
the focal point, Grönroos argues and has a long term client orientation.
Through the above mentioned theory observers will note that there seems to be a
tendency to move away from transactional marketing and traditional branding. There
truly appears to be a shift in the branding paradigm, a shift that resembles a Japanese
business style and mentality rather than a European or American one. Chung et al state
in their research, that “long term orientation is expected in every relationship in Japan
as a socially institutionalized norm” (56) which can be related to the brand-customer
relationship focus held by the main authors used in this thesis.
Kapferer’s cultural focus in his Brand Identity Prism is determined as “the core of the
brand” (101) and can create relationships and reassurance for the customers (102). In
terms of branding culture he argues that;
“Apple was the product of Californian culture in the sense that this state
will forever symbolize the new frontier. Apple was not interested in expanding
geographically but in changing society … Even in the absence of Apple’s founders,
everything carried on as if Apple had still had some revolutionary plan to offer to
companies and humankind. This fruit symbol is a source of inspiration which is
manifested not only in Apple’s original products and services, but also in its way of
communicating” (Kapferer 101).
Douglas Holt agrees with Kapferer’s notion about the importance of culture and argues
strongly about including a consideration of the company’s culture into branding. “A
brand becomes an economic asset for the firm when people come to count on the brand
Page 27 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
to contribute to social life, when it is embedded in society or culture” (Holt 300). This
interestingly enough seems to interrelate with the relationship focus held by the theorist
used in this thesis. If this thought, that branding resembles Japanese culture, is valid, it is
also relevant to discuss how this relates to the fact that the Japanese culture puts great
emphasis on long-term profit and increased market share (Lewis 5).
Since it has been established that there seems to be a culture shift in the way companies
needs to brand themselves, it is interesting to discuss how all of this relates to sales
since a company cannot survive on relationships alone. The Smartphone market is
dynamic and highly competitive according to the latest statistics from Euromonitor (App
16) and in order to survive a company must be profitable. Douglas B. Holt argues that
“branding is a core activity in capitalism” (300) and in 1970 Milton Friedman stated, in
an article in the New York Times, that the social responsibility of business is to increase
profits (Friedman, The, 1979). In 2002, in a revised edition of his 1962 book called
Capitalism and Freedom, he stated that the business of business is business (Friedman,
Capitalism, 2002). This can be related to branding and marketing initiatives because, in
spite of the above mentioned tendencies to form relationships with customers, a
company still needs to survive, they still need to make a profit which is recognized by
Holt (300-12). In relation to the Apple brand and the theories used in this thesis, it is
interesting to discuss how retention of consumers can lead to an increase in sales, since,
at the end of the day, this is the bottom line. If retention is attained through brandcustomer relationships and the Japanese culture hypothesis is valid, this automatically
means that by building long-term relationships in interrelation with the brand and the
customers, economic gains will be increased. The value in retaining customers lies, not
only in the increase in sales, but also in terms of increased profitability. Amortization of
sales and marketing costs is likely to happen when having a longer customer lifetime
(Payne 56). Customers that already engage in a relationship with a brand does not need
any marketing efforts to be convinced about a new product, hence the company saves
money which might have a huge impact on Apple and all other brands.
The intentions of the video which was analyzed in the previous chapter can only be
based on assumptions and interpretation in relation to the hermeneutic method.
Obviously, Apple is communicating to their customers, but a pressing discussion is
whether these customers are the current customers or new customers, hence is Apple
Page 28 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
trying to attract or retain customers? Apple is doing well and their revenue is higher
than ever, according to their annual report (App 5). Each time they launch a new
product a massive hype is created. This thesis therefore argues that Apple is retaining
their customers through the video, and because this specific video promotes a new
feature that the Iphone 3 did not have, it is argued that it is targeted at the current
customers and hence promoting a wish to retain their customers. Other videos,
however, promotes all the features of the Iphone 4, which is why they are considered as
videos made to attract new customers. Apple has made five videos that all start with “If
you don’t have an Iphone, you don’t have … “ (App 7) and these videos are considered to
target new potential customers. Grönroos states that retention of customers also can be
re-sale of the entire brand portfolio (In, 9). This means that the retention hypothesis is
even more valid since the “Under the Covers” video might also attract customers who
may not have the Iphone 3, but other Apple products, such as the MacBook laptop.
Luckily this video probably has a positive side effect for Apple because it could also
potentially attract new customers as well. Aaker determines that the reason why Apple
is a successful brand is because of “their flair for cool design, the encouragement of
surrounding apps, the perfecting of the user experience, the credibility and visibility of
Steve Jobs, the passionate customer base, the brand …. and the ability of Jobs to get the
timing right (App 17).
4. Conclusion
The observer will note that the Apple brand is doing a good job in retaining their
customers and competitors are aspiring to be able to compete with Apple. Many Apple
users feel a strong commitment towards the brand and repeatedly purchase other Apple
products. Through theory it can be concluded that the main reason why Apple can retain
their customers is their ability to create a brand-customer relationship. The contribution
of David Aaker suggested that a strong brand identity communication and a value
proposition that promotes self-expressive, emotional and functional benefits can create
a brand-customer relationship which leads to customer retention for Apple (Building,
79). Through the contribution of Susan Fournier it can be concluded that the brand-aspartner notion suggests Apple to humanize the brand which leads to relationship
durability, hence retention, according to her brand relationship quality model
(Customers, 367). Specifically this means that Apple should interact with their
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Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
customers and be addressable in order to retain them. The contribution of Christian
Grönroos leads to the conclusion that Apple should aspire to attain relational proneness
which occurs when the customer of a brand has the highest commitment level. This
means repeated purchase across the whole product portfolio, hence the customer is
retained. Adrian Payne’s small contribution to this thesis determined that Apple can
achieve customer retention by building barriers of convenience. The observer will note
that Apple appears to have done most of the suggested things in order to retain their
customers which gives them the ability to compete in the dynamic market of
smartphones. It cannot be concluded to which degree retention affects their ability to
compete in the dynamic market of smartphones, as this would need a concrete
measurement of their customer base in relation to re-purchase of the brand portfolio
(Payne 58). Through the discourse analysis of the “Under the Covers” video it was
established that Apple is clearly communicating a wish to retain their current
customers. The video puts strong emphasis on the partnership values which Fournier
states as being important. The video is at the same time communicating a brand identity
with a value proposition containing emotional and functional benefits for the consumer
as stated by Aaker. Finally, the video portrays visual product cues which Grönroos
argued would establish initial attractiveness which means that there is a
correspondence with the video and what the theorists suggested could retain customers
for Apple.
Page 30 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Works cited
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Aaker, David A. and Joachimsthaler, Erich. Brand Leadership. The Free Press, 2000.
Dietch, Betty Mattix. Reasoning and writing well. A rhetoric, research guide, reader and
handbook. McGraw-Hill, 2006.
Fowler, Ramsay H. and Aaron, Jane E. The little brown handbook. Pearson education,
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Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago university press Ltd, 2002.
Grönroos, Christian. In search of a new logic for marketing. –foundations of
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Kapferer, Jean-Noël. Strategic brand management. Creating and sustaining brand equity
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Kress, Gunther and Van Leeuwen, Theo. Reading images. The grammar of visual design.
Routledge, 2006.
Lewis, Richard D. Cross culture, The Lewis Model. Richard Lewis communications, 2000.
Payne, Adrian. Advances in relationship marketing. Kogan Page Ltd, 1997.
Pickton, David and Broderick. Integrated marketing communications. Pearson education
limited, 2005.
Articles and Journals;
Burr, Vivien. Chapter: introduction what is social constructionism? In: An introduction
to social constructionism: pp. 1-38, Rothledge 2001.
Chung, Jae-Eun. Sternquist, Brenda and Chen, Zhengyi. Japanese retail-buyer-supplier
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2008.
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Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Fournier, Susan. Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in
consumer research. Journal of consumer research. Vol. 24, March 1998.
Fournier, Susan. Aaker, Jennifer and Brasel, Adam S. When good brands do bad. Journal
of consumer research, Vol 31, No. 1, June 2004.
Friedman, Milton. The social responsibility of business is to increase profits. New York
Times magazine, September 13, 1970.
Grönroos, Christian. From marketing mix to relationship marketing – towards a
paradigm shift in marketing. MCB university press, 35/4, 1997.
Holt, Douglas B. Toward a sociology of branding. Journal of consumer culture. Vol 6, NO
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Palmer, Richard E. Chapter 7: Schleiermacher’s project of General Hermeneutics. In
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Gadamer. Northwestern university press, 1969.
Sääksjärvi, Maria. Hellen, Katarina. Gummerus, Johanna and Grönroos, Christian. Love at
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commitment. Journal of relationship marketing, Vol. 6 (1), 2007.
Page 32 of 33
Christina Holm Clausen
BACHELOR IN LANGUAGE AN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
05.05.2011
Degree in Marketing and Management Communication
Appendices
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Christina Holm Clausen