ARE BRAND PARODIES HARMFUL FOR THE BRAND RELATIONSHIP

ARE BRAND PARODIES HARMFUL FOR THE BRAND RELATIONSHIP? Géraldine Michel Professor – Sorbonne Business School– France Ouidade Sabri Associate Professor - Sorbonne Business School– France Pierre-Yves Lagroue Associate Professor , Sorbonne Business School– France Consumer Brand Relationship Colloquium – March 2011

1. Why is it so important to study parody effects? Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 2

Parody : phenomen increasing Parody is a creative art that transforms a serious copyrighted work by using irony, humor or satire (Bush, Bush & Boller, 1994; Johnson 1 Spilger 2000) Brand parodies can be either positive or negative Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

… At the same time Maintaining or creating a good reputation for companies is a main challenge and in all sectors. So the analysis of negative parody effects is especially important. What changes in the brand perception ? What changes in the brand relationship ? Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

Little previous research Little literature about parody Little conceptualization to analyze parody effects (Johnson and Spilger 2000; Bush, and Boller, 1994; Zinkhan, 1994). Few empirical results (Jean 2011; Ahluwalia, Burnkrant and Unhava, 2000). Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

2. What are the research objectives ? Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 6

Research purposes Analyse the impact of negative brand parody on brand Analyse ad attention and brand recall Impact on brand relationship Impact on word-of-mouth Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

The hypothesis of negative brand parody impact on brand Brand commitment Logo attitude H 1 + H 2 = H 5 - Negative logo parody versus real logo Attention Brand Recall Brand relationship H 3 a - Brand Reputation H 3 b - Brand Affect H 3 c - Brand trust Behavior toward Brand H 4 + Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 Brand word-of-mouth

3. Which methodology did we use ? Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 9

EXPERIMENT METHODOLOGY Specific focus on negative parody of 2 brands : Evian (bottled mineral water) and Fnac (Cultural and technological product retailer) 4 groups (experimental and control groups * 2 brands) Online questionnaire, exposure to the logo on blog page Sample 172 respondents 53% men Age average : 31 years old Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

Experimental groups / Control groups Sink, natural tap water Evian, natural spring water Money, profit maker Fnac, idea shaker Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

4. What are the survey results ? Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 12

Do you recognize what you see ? EVIAN FNAC In the experimental group 31% saw « evian » even though we showed « evier » logo. In the experimental group 48% saw « fnac. com » even though we showed « fric. com » logo. Gestalt theory Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

ANOVA to compare experimental and control group Real logo Parodied logo F P 3. 25 . 06 Attention 3. 36 3. 73 % Recall . 83 . 69 Brand trust 3. 80 3. 76 . 089 . 76 Brand reputation 3. 97 3. 91 1. 79 . 67 Brand Affect 3. 87 3. 93 . 153 . 69 Word-of- Mouth 3. 48 3. 27 1. 38 . 22 Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 . 10

ANCOVA to test the commitment moderating role Commitment * cas F P Brand trust 1. 05 . 40 Brand reputation . 95 . 47 Brand Affect 1. 48 . 18 Word-of- Mouth . 77 . 61 Brand commitment doesn’t moderate the logo parody effects Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

ANOVA to compare the logo characteristic Real logo Parodied Logo F P Credibility 3. 18 2. 90 3. 50 . 00 Humor 2. 39 3. 65 44. 58 . 00 Parodied logo is perceived as less credible and more humorous than real logo Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

5. Conclusion Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 17

Conclusion Theoretical contributions No effect of negative logo parody on brand relationship Reasons why The parody claims are perceived to be less credible than real brand claims but the credible content is important in convincing. The brand awareness dismisses the impact of negative claims, now in this research Evian and Fnac Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 Brands have a high awareness.

Conclusion Managerial contributions Negative logo parody has no impact to the original brand if not founded on specific issues(s) related to the brand Logo parody could increase the brand visiblity even the parody could be perceived negative (ex: Logorama) Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

Limitations and further research Survey on negative parody advertising (brand parody more explicite) Survey on past or present brand issues (brand which showed some issues on the past) Before and after brand parody exposure (with control group) Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011

Thank you

Global results Brand commitment Cognitive impact H 1 + H 2 = H 5 Negative logo parody / real brand logo Attention Brand Recall Brand relationship H 3 a Brand Reputation H 3 b Brand Affect H 3 c Brand trust Behavior towards Brand H 4 Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011 Brand word-of-mouth

Outline 1. Why is it so important to study parody effects ? 2. What are the research objectives ? 3. Which methodology did we use ? 4. What are the study results ? Michel, Sabri, Lagroue CBR 2011