Design and management of brand identity with an action research in Turkish fashion industry

Abstract

This thesis studies design and managementof brand identity, considering emotion concepts. It is an action research thesis, which focused on achieving answers to two main questions: 1. How is brand identity designed, in order to create an emotional experience? 2. How are emotions directed to brand identity are measured, and thus provide a base for management of brand identity?(based on the widely accepted business argument that .nothing can be managed without measuring.Today, it is widely accepted that marketing and customers have evolved. The perceptions of brands and products have shifted from functionality or usability aspects to experiential and emotional aspects. Customers want to be excited about a product, surprised about a service, or desiring about a brand. As a result; design of brand identity elements (as well as products) needed to be reviewed and emphasized, and new metrics are needed; for this era. In other words; new research and measurement methods is needed for the new era.As this thesis. research method is action research, with dual aims both for action and research, the action part of this research is carried out with Jimmy Key© brand (brand name changed to JKEY© at the end of the action research, in 2004), which is a Turkish fashion brand that sells sports and casual wear to a young and educatedaudience in national and international markets.Researches in this work aimed to increase understanding of the theories and concepts related with brand identity and emotion. Literature review starts with an explanation of the evolution of marketing concepts from 1900.s; where the idea in action was mass consumption, to 21st century; where the experience economy dominates. Mood consumption is offered as a new marketing perspective for this age.The concepts reviewed in this thesis that are related with emotional design of brand are .Brand identity., .Brand Positioning., .Emotions., .Emotional Experiences. and .Moods., .Fashion. (from a social and economic view), .Personalization andCustomization. and .Emotional Branding.. The emotional instruments in brand research are psycho physiological instruments; facial expressions, voice and self report measures. A remarkable tool that uses facial, vocal and bodily expressions elicited by design of products is PrEmo tool of Desmet.Actions of this work focused on reviewing the current literature with an emotional consideration, and to brought about change in Jimmy Key© brand identity with various designs, and proposed consumer research methods and tools for measuring, and thus for managing, brand identity, in which the concepts of emotion could be taken into consideration. The proposed designs (including logo, naming, advertisements, tags,bags, packaging, catalog, shop windows.etc.) and the proposed brand measurement instruments (including questionnaires, focus groups, brand collages, shopping tests and finally the proposed instrument .MyBetie.) constitute the action part of this action research.All the proposed designs in this work are considered as physiological,sociological, psychological, ideological experiences of the brand identity similar to Jordan.s four-pleasure framework.Among the entire brand researches in action were very time consuming and high cost; while they were very crucial and beneficial for brand positioning and future tracking. So a need for a more effective instrument, which is also capable of measuring emotions, is realized. Thus, four brand research methods used in action were integrated into a new proposed instrument. And being a unique; personalized, cost effective, quick response brand research and measurement instrument; .MyBetie. is proposed at the end of the thesis.