Using brand characters online to build an emotional connection with consumers and brand loyalty beyond immediate product consumption

Project Report from the year 2016 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 5.50, Anglia Ruskin University, language: English, abstract: The research addresses the question of how the usage of brand characters online builds an emotional connection with consumers and brand loyalty beyond immediate product consumption, which will be analyzed through the learnings from the success of the M&M's characters. This will be achieved through extensive research using both quantitative and qualitative methods and analysis. As an initial step, a top-line literature review has been done, with a specific end goal to pick up knowledge about the hypotheses behind the phenomenon of using brand characters online to build brand loyalty. This research requires the procurement of applicable information with respect to the importance and effect of using brand characters online. This project underlines the multifaceted nature of the construct of brand loyalty and the need for an emotional connection towards a brand keeping in mind the end goal to be brand loyal. Then, consequently, the dissertation will take brand loyalty as a general behavioral approach, and identify with the emotional connection specified above in the construct of brand connection. Thusly, it will recognize both approaches by demonstrating the difference between them being the time for which the customer will keep up a tight relationship with a brand. It will argue that brand character usage online supports the prolongation of the time a customer is attached to a brand, due to the higher emotional connection which builds brand commitment.