Qualitative research and questionnaire design Essay

Qualitative research and questionnaire design - Essay Example In its simplest sense, emotional branding pertains to that type of strategy which gives paramount importance to the emotions, most especially that of the consumers. Nowadays, members of the corporate world have recognized the importance of Corporate Branding. Big companies such as Victoria’s Secret, Coca-Cola, Godiva and Starbucks have all resorted to the use of emotional branding to attract more customers. Basically, emotional branding denotes one thing: that is, to place the customers at the core of the marketing strategy rather than focusing too much on the product (Berrada 2010; Gobe 2010). Pertinently, it is the goal of emotional branding to ensure the development of customer loyalty by making sure that the brand dominates its competitors with respect to the attention given by the customers (Travis 2000). Generally, emotional branding gives importance to the five senses of the consumers. Hence, advertisements focus on these, making sure that the customers connect not just with the product being advertised but to the brand as well. Hence, through emotional branding, the consumers are perceived to have the capacity to connect more to the brand. In this regard, the connection of the customers and the brand results to a greater profit for the company or manufacturer concerned (Gobe 2010; Taher 2006). The use of emotional branding then appeals to the internal aspect of the consumer. It is basically more concerned with the use of abstract concepts yet at the same time, yields to results that are concrete (Berrada 2010; Norman 2005). Evidently, not much research has been successful in determining why emotional branding results to customer satisfaction. It was considered as the marketing trend of the current generation (Gobe 2010; Passikoff 2006). Because of the competition dominating in the business arena, companies must not only tell their consumers what they need; instead, they must focus on the different reasons why the latter needs to obtain this (Desg rippes, Hellman and Gobe 2007; Norman 2005) This research generally focuses on emotional branding in the case of one of the most successful brands in the whole world: Starbucks. Undeniably, Starbucks has been considered as one of the most successful companies that have carried out the emotional branding strategies. Its products appeal to its consumers, enjoy high name recall, and finally, experience high degrees of customer loyalty (Gobe 2010; Mennen 2010; Passikoff 2006). In fact, Starbucks has been considered as the benchmark for mainstream coffee houses in view of its ability to market its products by promoting the social status that it gives. In this regard, this research draws on the perceptions of the customers of Starbucks with respect to aspects of emotional branding carried out by the corporation as well as the successfulness of the said strategies in the attainment of the following results: (1) appeal of the products to the customers, (2) high name recall, and (3) customer loyalty (Dorfmeister 2003; Gobe 2010). To attain the said objectives, this research employs the use of the qualitative approach to research, focusing on the use of the interviews in the form of questionnaires to obtain the pertinent data for this research. Literature Review Having established the main objective that this paper seeks to attain, this section then focuses on the review of pertinent literature with respect to emotional branding. Generally, this literature review focuses on three pertinent issues,