Term Paper Sample:
This study delves into the significance of marketing in the modern hospitality industry, exploring the dimensions of brand image and their impact on value creation for hotels and consumers. Through a comprehensive review of literature on brand image models, including Ogilvy’s, Aaker’s, and Keller’s Brand Equity Model, this research examines the various approaches hotels take to gain a competitive edge.
1.1 Introduction
This study critically examines the value of marketing for the contemporary hospitality industry by contrasting the dimensions of brand image as they impact on value creation of hotels to the consumers. The study is divided into four interrelated parts. The first section deals with the review of related literature on brand image. The second part focuses on the dimensions of brand image in the hospitality industry with emphasis on the different approaches adopted by leadership of hotels to gain competitive advantage. Attention is given to how these brands fit into the dimensions of brand image especially in the areas of brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. The third section centres on the critique of brand image within the context of marketing practice in the hospitality industry while the fourth section gives practical recommendations on how brand image can be enhanced through research and technology.
1.2 Concept of Brand Image
Brand image has multiple meanings that features similar elements and characteristics. To the consumers, brand image refers to the identity of the company in terms of name, logo, and colour which are associated with the products or services offered by the company (Mitra & Jenamani, 2020). To business managers, brand image means the intangible asset that the company possesses in relation to the value it creates to gain the loyalty of the consumer and differentiate its offerings for industry competitive advantage (Essamri et al., 2019). Beyond these basic descriptions of brand image, scholarly literature has conceptualised brand image as a construct that takes on complex interactions among various stakeholders, much more than viewing it from the perception of the consumers or the managers. For instance, Išoraitė (2018) brand image represent the functional and emotional perception that the consumer, investors, employees, suppliers and the wider society have about a company in terms of value creation and corporate social responsibility. Husain et al. (2022) agrees with Išoraitė but take the concept of brand image further by describing it as a kind of trust and credibility that a consumer have towards the company and the expectations that the company will increase the consumer well-being. Trust is used in this sense to mean that the consumer has strong belief in the company’s product or service.
2.1 Review of Literature on Different Models of Brand Image
The theories of brand image were popularised in academic discourse by David Ogilvy, Kevin Lane Keller and David Aaker in the 20th century (Ianenko et al., 2020). The theories put forward by these authors are reviewed in this section.
2.1.1 Ogilvy’s Model of Brand Image
David Ogilvy’s theory of brand image was developed in the 1950s which states that brand is an intricate symbol of the company which consist of intangible sum of all the brand attributes including the name of the company, its products, location, packaging, pricing strategy, cultural history, reputation in the society and advertising methods (Ogilvy, 1983 cited in Gómez, 2021). Brand is therefore a sort of positioning that makes a difference in creating unique characteristics. Ogilvy associated brand with personality and argued that the personality of the brand is essential to attracting the customer. Brand positioning is used within the context of Ogilvy’s perception that brand occupies a strategic place in the mind of the customer and must be maximised as just like a product is maximised (Tasci, 2020).
2.2.2 Aaker Model of Brand Image
Aaker (1991) believes that brand image as a unique name and symbol that are put out by the company which is intended to make it easy for the customer to identify the goods and services of the company and therefore differentiate it from the competitors who may wean to provide identical products/services. The Aaker Model promotes the idea of brand equity which is described as intangible assets such as brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association and brand loyalty that adds value to the products/services offered by the company (Ianenko et al., 2020). According to this model, the most important assets of any business are intangible and is serves as the primary source of competitive advantage and revenue generation for the company (Husain et al., 2022). With this perspective, positive symbols and name may assist brand awareness develop cohesiveness and structure, making it simpler for customers to identify a business’s identity.
2.1.3 Keller’s Brand Equity Model
Keller (1993) concentrates on understanding the core factors (i.e price, value, satisfaction, feelings, location, etc) that shape the verdict of a customer over a brand. This approach has been tagged the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) model as companies must understand the experience of the customer in order to develop the right type of brand (Essamri et al., 2019). Keller’s customer-based brand equity (CBBE) model is believed to have been influenced by cognitive psychology where associative network of memory shape the behaviour of people towards a company (Çınar, 2020). Keller’s model posit that that a brand’s image is made up of customers’ impressions of the brand and the associations they make with the brand based on attributes, benefits and attitudes. Other studies have looked empirically at the link between brand image and numerous marketing dimensions so as to build on the various theoretical models. A favorable brand image has been found to have a beneficial impact on, for example, brand trust, customer satisfaction, brand equity, and willingness to pay a premium price (Essamri et al., 2019; Plumeyer et al., 2019).
The above literature review shows that brand image is a crucial element that make up a company as it helps to promote the competitiveness of the organisation. However, the existing literature has not sufficiently address how brand image could measurable impact on the company’s performance even though they lay claim that brand image is important to the company as part of the equity. In other words, existing models are not sufficient to measure the impact of brand image on the company, they offer logical explanations as to the factors that influence the decision of the customer to become either loyal to a brand or reject the brand.
3.0 Dimensions of Brand Image in Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of businesses that provide accommodation, food and leisure to consumers through facilities that cover hotels, cafes, bars, restaurants, pubs and camp sites (Birtch et al., 2021). Globally, the industry is valued at $570 billion (Condor, 2021) while in the United Kingdom, hospitality industry contributed £59.3 billion to the UK economy in 2019 (Michael, 2021). The expansion of current brands and the creation of new ones are two methods used by hotel firms to increase their brand value (Gupta et al., 2020). Using this method, hotels may operate in a wide range of quality and price points, assuring long-term profitability. The increased desire for a branded experience and the widening range of customer expectations may be met with this approach, which enables hotels to better serve their customers. The dimensions of brand image imply the strategic elements that shape the image of the brand to the consumer (Ianenko et al., 2020). These dimensions bring together different brand theories into one single concept as depicted figure 1.
Figure 1: Dimensions of Brand Image
Source: (Wijaya, 2015, p. 62)
Figure 1 summarises the outcome of multiple theories of brand image as put forward by Keller, Aaker, Ogilvy, among others (Wijaya, 2015). One of the dimensions of brand image is brand identity. According to Kapferer (1986, cited in Im et al., 2022), brand identity is the collection of all elements (i.e names, taglines, colours, logos, sounds, and quality) that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer. With these elements, the core values of the hotels are projected and communicated as long-term goals. As indicated in appendices 1, strong brands weave six aspects of branding namely, physique, personality, culture, relationship, reflection and self-image to create an appealing brand identity in the mind of consumers. For example, hotels use their names, logo and other elements to create brand identity that communicate premium offering, environmentally friendly and reliability (Chung & Byrom, 2020). This is peculiar to hotels like Hilton who communicate its identity of luxury while Travelodge communicates an identity of affordability. Essentially, brand identity is believed to set a limit on brand positioning without compromising the brand promise.
Another dimension of brand image is the brand personality which refers to the unique character (i.e environmental friendly, positive, compassionate, dynamic, creative, etc) that make up the company as perceived by the customers (Llanos-Herrera & Merigo, 2018). In Aaker’s dimension of personality (see appendices 2), brand personality refers to the human characteristics that are ascribed to a brand (Paiva Neto et al., 2020). These characteristics includes sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness (see appendices 2). Literature on brand personality has shown that hotels its use improves the hotel’s brand equity (Aaker, 2015); increases the occupancy rates of hotels (Su & Reynolds, 2019); and help distinguishe the products of the hotel from its competitors (Gupta et al., 2020). These features are what the consumer use to define the image of the hotel. For instance, consumers are believed to define the personality of hotels based on what they experience during their stay. This could be from the angle of luxury, quality or affordability. For instance, consumers are more likely to perceive Hilton hotels as warm and friendly due to the relationship the hotel builds with the consumers through its Hilton loyalty program. The hotel is able to present its personality to the customer through Hilton Honours which has a number of relational benefits for the customer (Hilton Hotels, 2021). Thus, hotels attract different segments of the market and tend to perform based on the brand personality that customers have about them.
The third part of the dimension is brand associations. Jin et al. (2019) describe brand association as a mental link that customers establish between them and the company’s symbols such as logo, colour and name all of which influence the purchasing decisions of the customer. As a result of repeated exposure to a brand and major life events, the connections between the image of a particular hotel and the consumers’ preferences are formed over time (Plumeyer et al., 2019). A favourable brand image might help separate the competitiveness of an hotel from its rivals. For instance, Jin et al. (2019) posit that brand associations often deal with intangible characteristics that the hotel pushes out to the guests so as to gain their loyal to about the functionalities of their hotel’s tangible attributes. In other words, brand association means the degree to which a hotel is able to gain the loyalty of the consumers towards its products. For instance, some hotel brands such as Hilton have been able to gain the loyalty of consumers who associate the brand with safety, comfort, luxury. To further consolidate brand association, hotels came up with loyalty programes that enables the consumer to associate with the brand in their spending habit (The Independent, 2018).
The fourth dimension relates to brand behaviour and attitude which has been defined as the emotional feeling about the brand as depicted by the customer (Ferrell et al., 2019). According to Xiong & King (2019), the consumers’ assess the communication that a company passes through its consistency especially in the areas of value creation and corporate responsibilities to develop either positive or negative attitude towards the brand. In other words, brand attitude and behavior comprises the customer’s perception of the company’s communication and delivery of promises made in such communications. It has been observed that consumers make comparision of brands based on their behaviour (Lang et al., 2021). For instance, consumers use the communication approach of an hotel to form their judgement of the hotel. In a case where the communication is polite and respectful, consumers tend to relate better and refer the hotel to their family and friends (Ferrell et al., 2019). In a case where the brand does not respond to consumer complaints or use communication channels effectives, the consumers may have negative judgement about the brand behaviour.
The fifth part in the dimension deals with brand competence and benefit. Brand competence and benefit is contextualised within the framework of brand value which the customer derives from associating with the hotel. Gupta et al. (2020) argues that brand value demonstrates the capabilities of the company to conduct its business operations in a way that allow the managers to provide emotional value to the customers. This argument provides the template to determine whether hotels are able to create emotional value and benefit to the customer.
4.0 Critique of Brand Image in Hospitality Marketing
Brand image is considered as an intangible asset which make the company to enjoy lower price elasticity in terms of lowering advertising to sales ratio or increasing the trade leverage of the company, the application of the concept in the hospitality industry is yet to be comprehensively achieved. Empirical studies are yet to establish how a strong brand as seen in the case of Hilton Hotels, promotes brand loyalty and permits charging premium prices for its golf courses, hotel rooms, and use of its other services. Moreover, the application of the term is yet to be explored in the area of destination branding where the perception of a customer about a location may impact either positively or negatively on a hotel that sites its business in such location. Given this background, the knowledge of brand image in hospitality industry is still limited and needs to be further explored in the areas of measurability and destination brand they apply to the five dimensions of brand image.
5.0 Recommendations
Based on the outcome of the literature review and the limitations of the dimensions of brand image in the hospitality industry, this study offered the following suggestions:
- There is need to conduct empirical research into marketing communications directly impact on hotel brands in the hospitality industry. The outcome of the literature review indicates that much is yet to be covered in brand image within the hospitality industry. A systematic review of literature conducted by Plumeyer et al. (2019), observed that both Keller and Aaker were the most cited authors in brand image. The implication is that there is need to develop new bodies of theory that link brand cognition, interaction and communication as elements of brand image.
- Hotels such as should explore technology (i.e artificial intelligence, social media and enterprise resource management) to address its shortcomings under the dimensions of brand image (i.e poor brand behaviour and attitude) and develop innovative solutions to address such problems.
6.0 Conclusion
This study critically examined the value of marketing for contemporary hospitality industry by contrasting the dimensions of brand image in Hotels. It also reviewed related literature on brand image and discussed the dimensions of brand image. Based on the analysis, it was observed that brand identity, brand personality, brand association, brand behaviour and brand competence all contribute to the overall brand image of hotels. Specifically, the positive application of brand dimensions improves brand equity, increases the occupancy rates of hotels and gives the company competitive edge over competitors. In order for hotels to overcome the challenges that customers perceive (i.e poor communications) about their brand, it was recommended that hotels should explore technology (i.e artificial intelligence, social media and enterprise resource management) to address the problem. It was also suggested that effective communication should be developed so as to influence the perception of the consumer to have positive view of the hotel.
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Appendices 1: Kapfrerer’s Dimension of Brand Identity
Appendices 2: Aaker’s Dimension of Brand Personality
