1. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2
Associative networks
A new approach to market segmentation
Céline Brandt and Charles Pahud de Mortanges
HEC-ULg Management School – University of Liege
Christian Bluemelhuber
Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management
Allard C.R. van Riel
Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen
This.paper.aims.to.expand.the.domain.of.brand.image.perception.measurement.
by. providing. a. method. for. eliciting. brand. associative. networks. and. comparing.
it. with. traditional. brand. image. measurement. methods .. This. paper. then. argues.
that. these. networks. may. differ. from. one. individual. to. another,. depending. on.
the.cultural.background.and/or.the.experience.with.the.brand ..Accordingly,.the.
authors.introduce.a.methodology.of.clustering.consumers.with.similar.perceptions.
into. distinct. segments,. which. can. be. targeted. differently .. Using. picture. analysis.
and.metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques,.Lipton’s.Ice.Tea.brand.associations.are.
extracted. and. utilised. as. an. input. for. the. creation. of. 160. individual. associative.
networks .These. networks. are. first. aggregated. to. measure. the. brand. reputation.
and.subsequently.clustered.into.six.segments ..This.paper.provides.clear.arguments.
for.using.associative.networks.as.the.preferred.method.to.capture.the.complete.
brand. image .. The. paper. discusses. implications. of. perceptual. segmentation. for.
image.management,.brand.positioning,.perceptual.competition.analysis.and.brand.
communication .
Introduction
Following.the.majority.of.cognitive.psychologists,.brand.researchers.believe.
that. brand. information. is. organised. as. a. network. in. consumer. memory.
(Collins. &. Quillian. 1969;. Collins. &. Loftus. 1975;. Tversky. 1977) .. Such.
networks,. which. consist. of. associations. like. product. features,. logos. and.
usage. situations,. and. associative. links. (Solomon. 2006),. show. the. unique.
value. of. branded. goods. and. services. to. consumers. (Aaker. 1996) .. The.
Received.(in.revised.form):.29.April.2010
© 2011 The Market Research Society 187
DOI: 10.2501/IJMR-53-2-187-208

2. Associative networks
graphical.representation.of.such.a.brand.memory.is.called.a.brand.concept.
map.(BCM).(Roedder.John et al ..2005) .
Although. BCMs. have. been. discussed. in. the. marketing. literature. since.
the. 1990s. (Higie. Coulter. &. Zaltman. 1994;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996;.
Elliot. et al. 2003;. Carbonara. &. Scozzi. 2006),. mapping. methods. and.
their.applications.are.still.in.their.infancy ..They.were.developed.not.only.
to. analyse,. but. also. to. manage. brand. identity. and. brand. knowledge ..
This. requires. improved. methods. that. illustrate. the. ‘real’. brand. as. being.
perceived.by.the.customer,.and.that.are.easy.to.use ..Important.ideas.and.
techniques. have. been. suggested. by. Roedder. John et al .. (2006),. and. by.
Henderson.et al..(1998),.who.pioneered.quantitative.mapping.techniques.
and.showed.the.link.to.brand.equity .
Our.paper.follows.this.important.research,.and.adds.one.interesting.and.
important.aspect:.we.try.to.broaden.the.scope.of.using.BCM.techniques,.
using. it. to. segment. the. market .. Based. on. studies. that. have. discussed. the.
influences.of.brand.experience.(Bird.et al. 1970;.Ross et al ..1971;.Ginter.
&. Bass. 1972;. Barwise. &. Ehrenberg. 1985;. Alba. &. Marmorstein. 1987;.
Gaeth et al .. 1997;. Brengman. et al. 2001;. Anchor. &. Kourilova. 2009),.
gender. (Bird et al .. 1970;. Bailey. 2005;. Mitchell. et al. 2005;. Sawyerr. &.
Strauss. 2005;. Wolin. &. Korgaonkar. 2005;. Bain. &. Rice. 2006),. personal.
involvement. (Jacoby. et al. 1978;. Clarke. &. Belk. 1979;. Bolfing. 1988;.
Brengman et al .. 2001). and. brand. awareness. (Brengman et al .. 2001). on.
brand.perception,.and.have.shown.that.different.subgroups.of.consumers.
may. have. different. brand. perceptions,. we. will. introduce. a. segmentation.
technique.that.uses.brand.perceptions.as.its.main.criteria .
Literature review
Brand image measurement techniques
In.the.literature,.qualitative.and.quantitative.methods.are.used.to.measure.
brand.image.perception .
Several. qualitative. techniques. have. been. developed. to. elicit. brand.
associations .. These. are. defined. as. ‘all. brand-related. thoughts,. feelings,.
perceptions,. images,. experiences,. beliefs,. attitudes. that. become. linked.
to. the. brand. node’. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2006,. p .. 745) .. Marketers. use. free
association tasks,.asking.respondents.what.comes.to.mind.when.they.think.
of. a. certain. brand. (Gree. &. Srinivasan. 1990) .. Projective techniques,. like.
comparison.tasks.(Vriens.&.Frazier.2003).or.interpretation.tasks,.are.used.
when.consumers.are.reluctant.to.express.their.feelings ..Brand personality,
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3. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2
i .e ..‘the.specific.mix.of.human.traits.that.may.be.attributed.to.a.particular.
brand’. (Kotler. &. Keller. 2006,. p .. 745), is. also. used. to. measure. brand.
image.through.open-ended.questions.(Swait et al ..1993).or.ratings.of.the.
‘Big.Five’,.a.scale.of.five.factors.developed.by.Aaker.(1997).to.assess.the.
brand’s.personality ..Multidimensional.scaling.is.also.used.to.understand.the.
beliefs.about.a.brand.and.the.dimensions.that.underline.these.perceptions ..
However,.contrary.to.cognitive.network.theories.describing.each.concept.
with.nodes.and.links,.all.these.techniques.do.not.consider.the.brand.image.as.
a.network,.and.focus.instead.on.the.dyadic.relationship.of.an.attribute.with.
a.brand ..Therefore,.these.measurement.methods.do.not.emphasise.which.
attributes. are. directly. or. indirectly. linked. to. the. brand,. which. attributes.
are.core.associations.and.non-core.associations,.and.which.associations.are.
linked.together.and.therefore.interdependent.(Roedder.John et al ..2005) ..
Cognitive.network.theories.assume.that.the.structure.of.the.elicited.map.
reveals.the.inherent.relationships.between.the.associations.and.the.brand.
as. represented. in. a. person’s. memory. (Joiner. 1998) .. According. to. the.
spreading.activation.theory.(Anderson.1983),.recall.of.information.is.made.
through.the.activation.of.one.node.and.this.activation.spreads.from.that.
node.to.other.nodes.connected.to.it.in.memory ..The.spread.of.activation.
depends.on.the.distance.and.the.strengths.of.the.link.(Anderson.1983) .
Promising.in.this.regard.are.the.existing.qualitative.mapping.techniques,.
based. on. cognitive. network. theory,. where. attributes. are. either. directly.
elicited. from. the. consumer. (consumer. mapping). or. produced. using.
analytical.methods.(analytical.mapping) ..An.example.is.Zaltman.Metaphor.
Elicitation.Technique.(ZMET).(Zaltman.1997),.which.uses.multiple.verbal.
and. non-verbal. qualitative. attribute. elicitation. methods. to. emphasise.
subconscious. attributes .. Using. qualitative. concept. maps,. associations. are.
elicited.and.mapped.at.the.same.time,.allowing.great.flexibility.in.the.data.
collection. and. efficient. use. of. time .. However,. the. variety. of. associations.
elicited. does. not. permit. any. aggregation. procedure,. which. requires.
standardisation .. Quantitative. mapping. techniques. are. potentially. more.
effective.in.this.regard .
While. qualitative. techniques. only. uncover. the. types. of. beliefs. making.
up. the. brand. image,. quantitative. techniques. focus. on. their. contribution.
to. brand. equity. through. measurement. of. strengths,. favourability. and.
uniqueness. (Keller. 2003a) .. If. we. focus. on. the. associations,. the. strength.
of. brand. associations. is. obtained. through. the. rating. of. several. brands.
(Kardes. 2002) .. As. a. uniqueness. measure,. brand sensitivity,. measured. by.
the.number.of.persons.who.recognise.the.brand,.is.considered.as.a.proxy.
for. brand. uniqueness. (Kapferer. &. Laurent. 1988) .. Several. brands. can.
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also.be.represented.in.the.multidimensional.space.using.multidimensional
scaling. (MDS),. which. is. a. tool. that. transforms. similarity. measures. into.
distances .
However,. like. most. of. the. qualitative. measures,. these. quantitative.
measures. focus. on. the. dyadic. relationship. between. the. brand. and. an.
attribute,. without. taking. into. account. the. network. nature. of. the. brand.
image .. Thus,. if. we. want. to. know. if. the. attributes. are. core. or. not,. or.
which.attributes.are.first-.or.second-order.attributes,.or.the.types.of.link.
between.attributes,.a.network.technique.would.fit.better ..In.view.of.these.
impediments,.a.new.qualitative.method.of.measuring.brand.image.has.been.
developed,. based. on. knowledge. structures. in. psychology .. This. approach,.
first. proposed. by. Roedder. John et al .. (2005),. pioneered. a. valid. and.
reliable. quantitative. mapping. technique,. namely brand concept mapping
(BCM),. which. offers. structure. at. each. stage,. ease. of. administration. and.
aggregation.procedures,.no.need.for.special.expertise,.and.flexibility.in.the.
collection.method ..However,.this.technique.is.still.in.its.infancy.and.needs.
to.be.broadened ..There.is.a.clear.lack.of.empirical.research.on.quantitative.
concept.mapping.techniques.and.their.applications.in.branding .
Associative network theories
Based.on.the.fundamental.ideas.of.Collins.and.Quillian.(1969).and.Collins.
and.Loftus.(1975),.we.assume.that.the.structure.of.a.concept.map.reveals.
the. inherent. content. (concepts. and. their. associations). and. relationships.
(links.between.concepts.and.associations).represented.in.a.person’s.mind.
(Joiner.1998) .
Researchers.that.have.used.this.technique.in.marketing.(Bird et al ..1970;.
Pohlman. &. Mudd. 1973;. Green. &. Devita. 1977;. Boivin. 1986;. Dobni. &.
Zinkhan.1990;.MacKay.&.Easley.1996;.Elliot et al ..2003;.Carbonara.&.
Scozzi. 2006). apply. methods. that. either. (1). ask. consumers. to. construct.
the.network.(consumer.mapping).or.(2).use.analytical.methods,.to.build.a.
network.of.brand.associations.that.were.elicited.from.consumers.(network.
analysis) .
The. best-known. technique. designed. to. understand. cognitive. structures.
or. mental. models. is. the. ZMET. (1994),. which. combines. visual. and.
narrative.aspects,.and.consists.of.three.steps,.namely.elicitation,.mapping.
and. aggregation .. During. the. elicitation. stage,. 15. persons. are. recruited.
and. the. topic. is. introduced .. Then,. participants. collect. 12. pictures. about.
the. topic. to. prepare. a. two-hour. interview. that. will. take. place. ten. days.
later .. During. this. interview,. participants. will. be. asked. to. tell. stories.
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about.the.pictures.and.to.sort.the.pictures ..As.a.result,.constructs.will.be.
elicited. using. the. repertory. grid. method. and. laddering. process .. During.
the.mapping.stage,.respondents.are.asked.to.create.a.map.illustrating.the.
connections. among. important. constructs .. Finally,. during. the. aggregation.
stage,.data.are.codified.and.constructs.are.chosen.regarding.how.frequently.
they.are.mentioned ..ZMET’s.main.strength.is.its.ability.to.reveal.personal.
feelings,. irrationality,. illogical. behaviour. and. repressed. attitudes,. which.
are. hard.to.obtain.through.conventional.interview.techniques. (Pellemans.
1999) ..On.the.other.hand,.the.ZMET,.and.especially.its.elicitation.stage,.is.
very.labour-intensive ..Interviewers.must.be.thoroughly.trained.in.cognitive.
psychology,. while. respondents. must. be. willing. and. able. to. participate. in.
two.interviews.and.in.the.creation.of.the.brand.concept.map ..Up.to.now,.
those.maps,.which.are.the.main.outcome.of.studies.using.ZMET,.have.been.
analysed.qualitatively .
Henderson et al .. (1998). and. Roedder. John et al .. (2005). were. among.
the.first.to.develop.quantitative.tools.that.capture.the.brand.image ..Those.
methods.are.easier.to.administer,.with.fewer.labour-intensive.processes.in.
the.elicitation.and.aggregation.stage,.and.procedures.that.do.not.require.
specialised.expertise.and.training.for.interviewers ..Roedder.John’s.method.
enables. firms. to. capitalise. on. existing. brand. research. (replacing. the.
classical. elicitation. stage). and. allow. data. collection. from. larger. sample.
sizes. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005) .. The. main. weakness. of. these. methods.
(compared.with.ZMET),.however,.is.the.emphasis.on.the.conscious.parts.
of.brand.evaluation ..Therefore,.we.suggest.combining.the.strengths.of.the.
quantitative.methods.with.the.elicitation.stage.of.ZMET.(picture.analysis.
and. metaphor-based. elicitation. techniques),. which. enables. the. researcher.
to.elicit.also.‘hidden’,.unconscious.information .
Market segmentation in terms of brand image perception
Market. segmentation. and. product. positioning. are. major. strategic. issues.
in. companies .. Traditionally,. consumers. are. grouped. into. segments. based.
on. demographic,. behavioural. or. psychographic. data. (Kotler. &. Keller.
2005) .. Once. subgroups. have. been. identified,. managers. can. improve.
their. marketing. efforts. by. more. closely. approximating. the. need. of.
each. subgroup .. However,. recently,. some. authors. have. suggested. that.
consumers.may.differ.in.their.brand.image.perceptions.depending.on.their.
culture,. or. subculture. (Gonzales-Arce. 1975;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996),.
and. their. experience. with. the. brand. (Alba. &. Marmorstein. 1987;. Keller.
&. Staelin. 1987;. Brengman et al .. 2001;. Law. 2002) .. Only. a. few. authors.
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6. Associative networks
(Gonzales-Arce. 1975;. Gensch. 1978;. MacKay. &. Easley. 1996;. Buchta.
et al. 2000). have. investigated. market. segmentation. in. terms. of. brand.
perception,.comparing.perceptions.of.several.brands.on.a.limited.number.
of.dimensions ..However,.these.methods.(multidimensional.scaling).do.not.
take.into.account.all.the.brand.associations.and.the.connections.between.
them . Considering.the.implications.for.positioning,.image,.communication.
strategies,.brand.equity.management.and.perceptual.competition.analysis,.
we.propose.to.further.expand.and.advance.the.BCM.method.and.cluster.
the.network.data.to.reveal.segments.with.different.brand.perceptions .
Methodology
We. will. present. our. methodology. by. applying. it. to. one. special. case:.
Lipton. Ice. Tea .. We. have. chosen. that. brand. for. three. reasons .. First,. it.
is. a. well-known. brand. with. a. wide. variety. of. associations. and. distinct.
user.segments ..Second,.we.had.direct.access.to.proprietary.data.from.the.
producer.of.Lipton.Ice.Tea.(Unilever) ..Finally,.Lipton.Ice.Tea.seemed.to.be.
heterogeneously.perceived.in.the.Belgian.market.(according.to.the.Lipton.
brand.manager) .
For.using.the.segmentation.in.terms.of.brand.perception,.we.developed.
a.five-step.process,.which.is.summarised.in.Figure.1 .
Step 1: selection of the associations
Individuals.are.asked.to.create.individual.brand.maps ..They.are.provided.
with.cards.that.contain.brand.attributes/brand.associations.and.are.asked.
in. a. first. step. the. following. question:. ‘Considering. the. brand. and. the.
associations.listed.on.the.cards,.what.comes.to.mind.when.you.think.about.
this.brand?’.Respondents.are.allowed.to.select.as.many.cards.as.they.wish .
The.associations.are.selected.through.two.different.sources:.an.internal.
source.and.an.external.source ..As.an.internal.source,.the.brand.manager.
provided. us. with. an. initial. list. of. associations. that. ensured. we. covered.
the.associations.coming.from.past.research.and.consistent.with.the.brand.
positioning ..Since.brand.associations.are.evolving,.we.also.used.an.external.
source.(consumers) ..Given.the.continuous.evolution.of.brand.attributes,.we.
then.updated.this.list.using.the.ZMET.elicitation.process.(picture.analysis.
and. metaphor-based. elicitation. techniques) .. The. goal. was. to. also. elicit.
personal.feelings,.irrationality,.illogical.behaviour.and.repressed.attitudes ..
We. should. add. that. alternative. elicitation. sources. may. be. considered,.
such.as.brainstorming.sessions.or.insights.from.other.research . A.total.of.
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Step 1: Selection of the associations
• Internal perspective: brand associations listed by the brand manager based
on brand position and past market research
• External perspective: brand associations elicited by consumers with ZMET
Step 2: Mapping
Step 3: Codi cation and aggregation
• Core associations: frequency of mention and number of interconnections
with other associations
• First-order associations: frequency of first-order mention and position in
the interconnections
Step 4: Clustering based on complete linkage method
Step 5: Make clusters vivid, for example through BCM
Figure 1 BCM segmentation: five-step process
25. students. participated. in. that. ZMET. study .. As. we. reached. theoretical.
saturation. after. the. 15th. interview,. this. number. should. be. sufficient.
(Zaltman.&.Coulter.1995) .
The. respondents. were. asked. to. collect. 12. pictures. that. express. their.
brand.knowledge.and.brand.feelings,.from.magazines.or.from.the.internet ..
Then,.the.respondents.explained.the.reasons.why.they.selected.them ..From.
these. validations. the. interviewer. completed. the. list. of. brand. attributes.
by. assigning. abstract. associations. to. consumer. quotes .. The. following.
example.illustrates.this.process:
Respondent.12:.‘I.chose.this.picture.of.a.river.with.a.cascade.because.I.think.that.
Ice.Tea.has.to.be.consumed.very.cold .’
Researcher:.Attribute:.freshness,.ice.cubes
Based.on.the.pre-tests,.we.obtained.a.final.list.of.32.attributes,.as.shown.
in.Table.1,.that.were.used.in.the.BCM.construction.process .
Step 2: mapping
Having. selected. those. associations. (cards). that. represent. the. brand,. the.
160. respondents. (see. Table. 2. for. the. sample. description). are. shown.
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Table 1 Complete list of attributes
1 Sport, move, mountain bike, clubhouse, fitness, adventure, sensation, effort
2 Wellness, harmony, equilibrium
3 Family, children
4 Fruits, exotic
5 Nature, green, veggies, flowers, plant, leaf
6 Freshness, ice cubes
7 Overweight, obesity
8 Thirst-quenching
9 Sun, heat, beach, swimming pool, holiday, deck chair, sand, scorching heat
10 Light, diet, silhouette, figure
11 Lemon, yellow
12 Break, free time
13 Sugar
14 Relaxation
15 High price
16 Soft drink
17 Terrace, outdoor, restaurant, between friends, social
18 Energy, revitalising, active
19 Aperitif, cocktails
20 At any time
21 Carafe
22 Glass ‘balloon’
23 Indigestible
24 Waste, pollution
25 Marketing, advertising, packaging
26 Addictive, antidepressant
27 Additive, sweetener
28 Sparkling
29 Peace, rest
30 Hedonic
31 Cool, fun, trendy, contemporary
32 Good quality
one. brand. concept. map. for. another. brand. as. an. example. to. explain. the.
construction.process,.and.especially.the.different.links.that.could.appear ..
We. used. a. BCM. for. the. Volkswagen. Beetle. (Roedder. John et al .. 2006) ..
The. respondents. ascertain. that. some. attributes. are. directly. linked. to. the.
brand. (like. ‘German. car’. or. ‘easy. to. park’),. while. others. are. linked. to.
each. other. (like. ‘neat. colours’. and. ‘lime. green. or. silver’,. meaning. that.
because. of. their. lime. green. and. silver. colours. Volkswagen. Beetles. have.
neat.colours),.and.that.BCMs.contain.different.types.of.link.between.the.
brand. and. the. attributes,. as. well. as. between. attributes. (single,. double. or.
triple.links),.which.indicates.how.strong.the.associations.are,.with.a.triple.
link. meaning. ‘very. strong’ .. After. this. ‘respondent. learning. process’,. the.
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Table 2 Sample description
Frequency % Frequency %
Age Sex
<20 12 8 Male 70 44
20–24 30 19 Female 90 56
25–29 37 23
Income
30–39 30 19
<10,000 57 36
40–49 24 15
10,000–20,000 11 7
>50 27 17
20,000–30,000 37 23
Users/non-users 30,000–40,000 38 24
users 92 54 >40,000 15 9
Non-users 68 40
respondents. are. asked. to. create. a. personal. concept. map,. using. the. pre-
selected.associations/cards,.a.blank.poster.containing.the.brand.name.in.the.
centre.and.single,.double.and.triple.lines.to.connect.the.cards.(all.provided.
by.the.researchers) ..Respondents.stick.the.cards.with.the.attributes.on.the.
poster.and.connect.them.with.single,.double.and.triple.links .
In.our.Lipton.Ice.Tea.study.we.collected.BCMs.from.160.respondents ..
We. used. quotas. of. age,. gender,. income. and. experience. with. the. brand.
(see. Table. 2. for. sample. description. and. demographics) .. All. respondents.
confirmed. that. they. understood. the. procedure. and. had. no. problem.
following.it .
In. the. end,. the. interviewer. asked. the. respondents. to. describe. prior.
experiences.with.the.brand.(user.or.non-user).and.to.provide.us.with.his/
her. demographics .. The. BCM. construction. and. interviews. lasted. 15–30.
minutes.on.average .
Step 3: codification and aggregation
In.a.second.step,.the.individual.BCMs.have.to.be.aggregated.in.order.to.
show.the.general.perception.of.the.brand ..Figure.2.shows.the.aggregated.
BCM.for.Lipton.Ice.Tea.in.Belgium .
Therefore.two.independent.coders.(inter-coder.agreement.98%).coded:
•. the.presence.or.the.absence.of.each.of.the.32.attributes
•. the.types.of.links.between.associations,.and.between.the.brand.and.the.
associations.(single,.double.and.triple)
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10. Associative networks
Nature, green, veggies, Marketing,
flowers, plant, leaf advertising,
packaging
Thirst-quenching Fruits, exotic
Cool, fun, trendy,
contemporary
Freshness, Ice Tea
ice cubes Soft drink Sparkling
Pleasure, Sugar Overweight,
relaxation obesity
Sun, heat, beach,
swimming pool, holiday, Terrace, outdoor,
deck chair, sand, restaurant, between
scorching heat friends, social
Figure 2 Model: Lipton Ice Tea brand map
•. the. level. at. which. each. attribute. was. placed. on. the. map. (1. means.
directly. linked. to. the. brand,. 2. means. linked. to. an. attribute. that. is.
linked.to.the.brand.…),.and
•. the. associations. linked. above. and. below. each. brand. association. on.
the.BCM .
First,.we.had.to.decide.which.attributes.would.be.‘core’.in.our.aggregated.
BCM. and. used. the. following. measures. for. this. purpose:. ‘the. frequency.
of. mention’. and. ‘the. number. of. interconnections’ .. The. first. measure. is.
calculated. by. dividing. the. number. of. times. an. attribute. is. cited. in. the.
individual. BCM. by. the. total. amount. of. individual. BCM .. The. latter.
one. counts. the. number. of. times. the. attribute. is. linked. to. all. the. other.
associations .. Adhering. to. previous. content. studies. of. brand. attributes,.
beliefs. and. values. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005),. we. used. a. 50%. cut-off.
measure. to. decide. whether. or. not. one. attribute. should. appear. on. the.
aggregated. BCM,. resulting. in. a. brand. map. containing. ten. core. brand.
associations .
Then,.we.had.to.decide.which.of.the.core.associations.would.be.directly.
linked.to.the.brand ..Two.measures.were.used,.namely.the.frequency.and.
the.ratio.of.first-order.mentioning ..The.first.measures.the.number.of.times.
an.association.is.directly.linked.to.the.brand ..The.second.is.the.frequency.of.
first-order.mentions.divided.by.the.frequency.of.total.mentioning ..Finally,.
the.type.of.positions,.superordinate.or.subordinate,.indicates.if.most.linked.
associations.appear.below.it.(superordinate).or.above.it.(subordinate) ..We.
considered.these.attributes.as.first-order.attributes.whose.frequency.of.first-
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order. mention. is. higher. than. 50%,. and. whose. number. of. superordinate.
connections.is.higher.than.the.number.of.subordinate.connections .
The. third. step. involves. an. analysis. of. the. associations’. links. in. order.
to. consign. the. remaining. core. brand. attributes .. Towards. that. end,. the.
frequency. of. links. between. associations. (for. example,. ‘thirst-quenching’.
was. frequently. connected. above. ‘freshness’. and. ‘ice. cube’). is. examined ..
We. incorporated. certain. non-core. brand. associations. that. are. frequently.
linked. to. core. associations. to. show. which. non-core. brand. associations.
drive. consumer. perception. of. core. associations .. We. linked. them. to. core.
associations,.taking.the.average.link.used.in.the.individual.brand.maps .
Most. of. the. core. associations. were. consistent. with. the. Lipton. Ice.
Tea. advertising. messages,. such. as. ‘nature’,. ‘fruits’,. ‘thirst-quenching’,.
‘freshness’,. ‘sun’,. ‘pleasure’,. ‘contemporary’. and. ‘terrace’ .. But. we. also.
found. attributes. –. like. ‘sugar’. –. that. do. not. correspond. to. the. brand’s.
positioning .. Another. example. of. non-company-driven. beliefs. is. the.
perception. of. Lipton. as. a. ‘soft. drink’,. which. is. in. sharp. contrast. to. the.
intended. ‘fruit. juice’. perception .. We. elicited. three. attributes. with. double.
links,. namely. ‘thirst-quenching’,. ‘sun’. and. ‘terrace’ .. Those. attributes.
have. the. strongest. links. with. the. brand. and. all. three. correspond. to. the.
positioning. and. communication. messages .. The. two. non-core. brand.
associations,. which. drive. consumer. perception. of. the. core. associations.
‘sugar’. and. ‘cool,. fun. and. contemporary’,. are. respectively. ‘obesity’. and.
‘marketing’ .. Of. course,. those. negative. associations. can. also. affect. brand.
equity,.for.example,.through.brand.dilution.(Pullig.et al. 2006).(confusion.
in. consumers’. minds. regarding. the. features. connected. to. the. brand.
(Henderson et al ..1998)).or.the.creation.of.a.Doppelgänger.brand.image.
(Thompson. et al. 2006). (disparaging. images. and. stories. about. a. brand.
that. are. circulated. in. popular. culture. by. a. loosely. organised. network. of.
consumers,.anti-brand.activists,.bloggers.and.opinion.leaders.in.the.news.
and.entertainment.media.(Thompson et al ..2006)) .
To.test.the.reliability.of.our.aggregation,.we.randomly.split.all.individual.
BCMs.into.two.groups,.produced.an.aggregate.map.for.each.of.the.groups,.
and. then. evaluated. the. degree. of. consistency. between. both. consensus.
maps.(see.Figure.3) ..The.first.aggregate.brand.map.had.ten.core.attributes,.
while. the. second. one. had. only. nine .. Seven. attributes. are. shared. by. both.
aggregated. BCMs. (six. first-link. associations. with. three. attributes. in.
common) ..Comparing.both.brand.maps.based.on.the.presence.of.each.of.
the. possible. 32. brand. associations,. we. obtained. a. significant. chi-square.
(chi-square.=.16 .7;.p.=.0 .00<0 .05;.N.=.32).and.thus.a.high.correlation.
between. the. two. brand. maps. (contingency. coefficient. =. 0 .586) .. Using.
197

12. Associative networks
Half 1
Soft drink
Thirst-quenching Marketing
Lemon
Lipton Ice Tea Fruits
Sun
Relax
Freshness
Plants Contemporary
Terrace
Half 2
Overweight
Terrace Relax
Sugar
Fruits
Plants
Soft drink
Lipton Ice Tea
Freshness
Thirst-quenching
Sun
Contemporary
Figure 3 Split-half reliability test
a. first. link. association. criterion,. we. also. obtained. a. significant. chi-
square.(chi-square.=.4 .7;.p.=.0 .03<0 .05;.N.=.32).and.thus.a.sufficient.
correlation.between.the.two.brand.maps.(contingency.coefficient.=.0 .4) ..
The.high.degree.of.consistency.between.both.brand.maps.should.signify.a.
high.reliability .
To.test.the.nomological.validity,.we.split.the.individual.brand.maps.into.
two.categories.that.should.differ.in.a.predictable.way.(users.and.non-users) ..
As.the.aggregated.map.for.the.‘users’.group.has.a.more.complex.structure.
with.more.brand.associations.(ten.core.brand.attributes.for.the.‘users’.and.
eight.for.the.‘non-users’),.more.interconnections.between.associations.and.
more. triple. double. links. (Roedder. John et al .. 2005). than. the. non-user-
group.map,.we.can.confirm.a.high.level.of.nomological.validity,.as.shown.
in.Table.3 .
Our. nomological. validity. analysis. elicited. different. perceptions. of. Ice.
Tea. based. on. consumption. and. buying. behaviour .. That. leads. us. to. our.
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13. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2
Table 3 Nomological validity tests
Users Non-users
Total number of beliefs 11.54 (–5.09) 10.35 (–3.32)
Total number of first-level associations 6.51 (–2.46) 6.41 (–2.59)
Total number of second- and third-level associations 5.03 (–5.19) 3.94 (–3.24)
Total number of links 15.39 (–4.8) 13.91 (4.52)
Total number of first-order links 10.30 (–3.82) 9.35 (–3.65)
Total number of second- and third-order links 5.24 (–3.64) 4.55 (–3.8)
Total number of triple lines 1.05 (–1.29) 0.84 (–0.89)
Total number of double lines 2.25* (–1.43) 1.60* (–1.32)
Total number of single lines 7.89 (–2.5) 8.12 (–3.64)
* Values that are significantly different from each other for an α = 0.05 (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z)
Standard deviation in parenthesis
next.research.question:.‘Is.it.possible.to.link.BCM.with.cluster.analysis.in.
order. to. effectively. and. efficiently. segment. consumers. according. to. their.
perceptions.of.a.brand?’
Step 4: clustering
We.clustered.our.individual.brand.maps.based.on.the.absence/presence.of.
the. 32. brand. associations. to. group. objects. based. on. the. attributes. they.
possess .. Following. Everitt. et al.’s. (2001) suggestion,. we. used. ‘Sokal. and.
Sneath. 4’. as. a. distance. measure. and. the. ‘complete. linkage. method’. (or.
further. neighbour). to. cluster. binary. variables .. By. plotting. the. distance.
coefficients. (slope. variation),. and. by. using. the. measure. of. heterogeneity.
change,.profile.diagrams.and.the.independent-samples.T-tests,.we.decided.
how.many.clusters.to.keep.in.the.analysis .
For.the.brand.Lipton.Ice.Tea,.we.discovered.a.six-cluster.solution.that.
is. described. and. labelled. by. using. mean. scores,. the. profile. diagrams. and.
the. independent-sample. T-tests .. The. clusters. differ. especially. in. usage.
situations,. in. the. brand. evaluation. and. in. the. perception. as. soft. vs. fruit.
drink .
Step 5: make clusters vivid
Traditionally,. managers. have. used. demographics,. behavioural. variables.
or,. more. recently,. customer. lifetime. value. (CLV). to. segment. the. market ..
By. applying. BCM. segmentation,. we. create. clusters. with. different. brand.
perception. in. terms. of. brand. usage. (when?. how?),. brand. features. (e .g ..
199

14. Associative networks
CLUSTER 1: After sports CLUSTER 2: Sunny
Thirst-quenching
Sport Break Terrace
Wellness
Lipton Ice Tea Relaxation Freshness
Sun
Obesity
Lipton Ice Tea Fruits
Antidepressant
Freshness
Thirst-quenching
Relax
CLUSTER 3: Sweet and expensive CLUSTER 4: Fruit juice
Indigestible
Sugar Sun Energy Additive
Terrace Sugar
Freshness Fruits
Addictive Lipton Ice Tea
Thirst-quenching Lipton Ice Tea Nature
High price Sparkling Freshness
Additive Waste
Contemporary
CLUSTER 5: Quality at any time CLUSTER 6: Light and healthy
Good quality Family Sun Relaxation
Overweight Light
Freshness
Thirst-quenching Sugar Thirst-quenching
Lipton Ice Tea Wellness
Contemporary Quality
Energy Lipton Ice Tea
At any time
Break Family
Terrace Lemon Nature
Fruits
Figure 4 Aggregated BCM for the six segments
sweet,.expensive).or.other.brand.associations.(e .g ..family) ..To.interpret.and.
profile.our.six.segments,.we.created.an.aggregated.BCM.for.each.of.the.six.
clusters ..The.results.are.described.in.Figure.4 .
Cluster.1.(‘after.sports’).considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.refreshing.beverage.that.
can.be.drunk.especially.after.sports,.or.relaxing.outdoors.on.a.terrace .
Cluster.2.(‘sunny’).considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.beverage.that.is.mostly.drunk.
when.the.weather.is.sunny ..This.segment.enjoys.the.freshness.and.the.fruity.
side.of.Ice.Tea ..They.also.link.Ice.Tea.to.relaxation .
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15. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2
Cluster.3.(‘sweet.and.expensive’).has.a.negative.perception.of.Ice.Tea ..
This. group. considers. Ice. Tea. as. a. soft. drink,. full. of. sugar. that. causes.
obesity ..Customers.of.that.segment.also.criticise.the.price.of.the.beverage.
and.the.presence.of.additives,.like.aspartame.(a.sweetener) ..This.group.also.
considers.Ice.Tea.as.a.contemporary,.fresh,.sparkling.soft.drink,.associated.
with.sunny.weather .
Cluster. 4. (‘fruit. juice’). considers. Ice. Tea. especially. linked. to. freshness,.
lemon. and. other. fruits .. Of. this. cluster,. 70%. find. it. especially. linked. to.
(tea).plants,.but.50%.also.consider.it.as.very.sweet .
Cluster. 5. (‘quality. at. any. time’). considers. Ice. Tea. as. a. contemporary.
beverage. that. can. be. drunk. at. any. time .. This. is. a. quality. beverage,. but.
with.a.risk.of.causing.excess.weight.when.consumption.is.excessive ..This.
cluster.also.emphasises.the.healthy.side.of.Ice.Tea .
Cluster. 6. (‘light. and. healthy’). emphasises. the. healthy. side. of. Ice. Tea ..
This.cluster.mentioned.the.quality.of.the.beverage,.the.link.with.fruits.and.
plants,.and.the.energy.contribution ..This.group.also.recognises.the.link.to.
freshness,.sun,.relaxation.and.lemon .
Conclusions and theoretical implications
Implications for brand image measurement
This. paper. demonstrates. the. usefulness,. reliability. and. validity. of. the.
brand.concept.mapping.(BCM).methodology ..Furthermore,.our.approach.
enhances. the. elicitation. stage. of. BCM. by. adding. picture. analysis. and.
metaphor-based.elicitation.techniques.to.obtain.a.complete.and.up-to-date.
list. of. attributes .. Our. study. augments. the. range. of. BCM. applications. by.
employing.it.as.a.segmentation.tool ..Finally,.BCM.is.a.way.of.measuring.
brand.image,.but.also.attitude.and.usage ..Therefore,.BCM.could.possibly.
replace,.or.at.the.very.least.complement.classical.research.on.attitude.and.
brand.usage.(visual.instead.of.figures) .
Managerial implications and applications for the information
presented in the article
Implications for image and reputation management
From. a. managerial. point. of. view,. this. study. identifies. the. different.
perceptions. of. Lipton. Ice. Tea .. When. the. aggregated. brand. map. is.
compared. to. the. intended. brand. positioning. (by. the. company),. we. find.
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16. Associative networks
the. core. attributes. of. the. consensus. map. consistent. with. the. intended.
positioning. of. Lipton. Ice. Tea .. A. single. exception. is. the. attribute. ‘sugar’ ..
The. two. negative. non-core. brand. associations,. ‘obesity’. and. ‘marketing’,.
need.to.be.carefully.scrutinised .
Implications for segmentation
Traditionally,.companies.have.segmented.their.potential.customers.on.the.
basis. of. similar. sets. of. needs. and. wants. that. should. affect. consumption.
habits .. Most. marketers. use. consumer. characteristics. and. customer.
response. to. translate. these. sets. of. needs,. or. wants,. into. effective. market.
segments .
We. suggested. a. method. that. is. not. just. based. on. (more. general).
needs. and. wants,. but. more. specifically. on. different. brand. perceptions ..
This. method. clusters. customers. with. similar. perceptions. as. expressed.
through.BCMs ..Naturally,.these.clusters.can.then.be.linked.with.classical.
segmentation. variables,. like. brand. experience,. personal. involvement.
or. brand. awareness .. The. cluster. descriptions. provide. managers. with.
information. about. the. different. consumption. habits. of. these. subgroups.
and. their. consequences. in. terms. of. brand. perception .. Brand. managers.
can,. therefore,. more. easily. identify. which. subgroups. are. commercially.
attractive. for. the. company. (cluster. number. 3. is. excluded) .. We. suggest.
using.this.method.when.the.brand.is.heterogeneously.perceived.and.when.
classical.segmentation.variables.do.not.lead.to.successful.results .
Implications for brand positioning
On.the.basis.of.the.brand.concept.map,.brand.managers.can.(re-)evaluate.
their.brand.identity.by.comparing.consumers’.perceptions.with.the.brand’s.
positioning .
If. certain. brand. perceptions. are. inconsistent. with. the. intended.
positioning,. corrective. action. could. be. taken. to. either. modify. these.
perceptions.(if.possible),.or.to.reconsider.the.brand’s.points.of.parity.and.
points.of.difference .
Another. opportunity. would. be. to. create. different. positioning. to.
incorporate.the.variations.in.the.brand.image.perception.and.overcome.the.
differences.due.to.the.culture,.brand.experience.or.product.involvement ..
Given. the. profiles. of. specific. segments. and. their. consumption. habits,.
managers. can. adapt. brand. elements,. such. as. product. benefits,. packaging.
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17. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2
and.other.aspects.of.integrated.marketing.communication,.to.reinforce.the.
brand.image.perception.and.build.brand.equity.segment.by.segment .
Implications for brand communication
Due.to.selective.distortion,.consumers.pay.more.attention.to.communication.
messages. that. are. in. accordance. with. their. previously. acquired. beliefs.
stored.in.the. long-term.memory ..Therefore,. the.creative.content.and. the.
communication. messages. should. be. adapted. depending. on. the. segments.
and.its.brand.image.perception .
Implications for brand equity management
Another. implication. for. brand. management. could. be. an. adaptation. of.
the. brand. architecture .. When. some. clusters. describe. Lipton. Ice. Tea. as.
‘light. and. healthy’,. while. others. perceive. it. as. ‘sweet’,. we. could. assume.
that. consumers. have. different. versions. (line. extensions). in. mind .. A. clear.
architecture. is. needed,. to. align. extensions. with. specific. associations,. and.
on.the.other.hand.create.more.general.associations,.that.could.be.shared.by.
all.consumers/versions ..We.suggest.examining.brand.equity.components.at.
the.corporate.level.(Unilever),.at.the.brand.level.(Lipton.Ice.Tea),.but.also.
at.the.line.extension.level .
Implications for competition analysis
Managers. must. take. into. account. that. certain. products. are. considered.
as. competitive. products. by. some. segments. and. not. by. others .. Marketers.
need. to. adapt. their. competitive. strategy. in. light. of. these. differences. in.
perception .
Limitations and future research directions
The.sample.size.(160).disallowed.the.use.of.latent.cluster.analysis.and.led.
to.relatively.small.clusters ..However,.the.aim.of.the.study.was.to.present.a.
technique.that.is.appropriate.for.solving.certain.types.of.problems.rather.
than.to.draw.any.general.inferences.as.to.how.consumers.perceive.Lipton.
Ice.Tea ..To.pursue.this.other.goal,.a.replication.with.a.larger.sample.size.
would.be.necessary .
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18. Associative networks
For.Lipton.Ice.Tea,.a.five-cluster.solution.is.suggested ..From.a.managerial.
point.of.view,.it.would.have.been.easier.to.have.fewer.segments.(two.or.
three) .
Regarding.the.effect.on.buying.behaviour,.the.uniqueness.of.the.brand.
associations.will.have.a.positive.effect.on.purchase.choices.(Keller.2003b) ..
However,.Ajzen.(1988).showed.that.perception.is.only.one.component.of.
attitude ..The.brand.map.should.therefore.be.interpreted.from.a.contingent.
perspective.to.show.the.effects.on.buying.behaviour .
Finally,. although. this. methodology. produces. some. interesting. results,.
it. still. constitutes. a. complex. (and. costly). process. for. companies. (large.
number.of.interviews.and.codification.process).wishing.to.explore.brand.
image.issues .
As. future. research. directions,. we. suggest. the. application. of. the. BCM.
methodology. to. other. managerial. issues. such. as. evaluation. of. the.
effectiveness. of. co-branding. strategies,. brand. extensions,. advertising. and.
other. promotional. tools .. The. BCM. technique. could. also. be. useful. when.
applied.to.brand.perception.issues.such.as.brand.confusion,.brand.dilution.
(Pullig et al .. 2006). and. Doppelgänger. brand. image. (Thompson et al ..
2006) .
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21. International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 2
About the authors
Céline. Brandt. is. marketing. assistant. and. postdoctoral. fellow. at. the. HEC.
School.of.Management.of.the.University.of.Liège.(Belgium) ..Her.research.
focuses. are. in. the. area. of. product. and. corporate. brand. reputation,.
branding,. networks. in. marketing. and. consumer. behavior .. Céline. Brandt.
is. the. author. of. various. communications. and. a. doctoral. dissertation. in.
marketing .. Her. doctoral. thesis. deals. with. the. measurement. of. individual.
brand.image.perception.and.brand.reputation.using.associative.networks .
Charles. Pahud. de. Mortanges. received. his. BA. (Economics). from. the.
University.of.California.and.his.MBA.from.the.California.State.University .. .
His.PhD.(Economics).is.from.the.University.of.Groningen ..Currently,.he.
is.a.full.professor.of.marketing.at.the.HEC.School.of.Management.of.the.
University.of.Liege.(Belgium) ..His.research.interests.are.primarily.in.brand.
management.and.brand.valuation .
Christian. Bluemelhuber. is. the. InBev. Baillet. Latour. Professor.
d’Euromarketing. at. the. Solvay. Brussels. School. of. Economics. and.
Management. (Université. Libre. de. Bruxelles) .. His. research. is. devoted.
to. the. interpretation. of. consumer. behaviour,. services. and. branding.
experiences,. visual. techniques,. and. integrating. European. perspectives.
into. the. marketing. landscape .. More. information. on. Christian’s. work. is.
available.on.his.website.http://www .bluemelhuber .de .
Allard. van. Riel. is. a. full. professor. of. marketing. and. director. of. the.
Institute.for.Management.Research.of.the.Radboud.University.in.Nijmegen,.
the.Netherlands ..He.holds.a.PhD.in.Service.Innovation.Management.from.
Maastricht.University ..Between.2004.and.2009.he.held.the.Arcelor-Mittal.
Chair.in.Innovation.Strategy.and.Management.at.the.University.of.Liège.
in. Belgium .. His. research. interests. include. cognitive. aspects. of. decision-
making. under. complexity. and. uncertainty,. specifically. in. innovation.
management,. and. service. operations. and. marketing. management .. He.
published. in. the. Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial
Marketing Management, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business
and Industrial Marketing,. and. International Journal of Service Industry
Management .. He. is. currently. focusing. on. responsible. decision-making. in.
health.care.innovation ..
Address. correspondence. to:. Céline. Brandt,. HEC. Université. de. Liège,.
Department.of.Marketing,.Boulevard.du.Rectorat.7,.Liege,.4000,.Belgium .
Email:.celine .brandt@ulg .ac .be
207

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