From easy to known: How fluent brand processing fosters self-brand connection

Abstract

In most marketplaces, brands face fierce competition. Those that are adopted into consumers' self-concepts in the form of a strong self-brand connection reap myriad benefits including more positive evaluations, increased purchase intentions, and greater customer loyalty. This research tests the premise that the processing fluency of two prominent branding elements, brand name and logo, may promote self-brand connection. A series of three studies indicates that processing fluency, prompted either through repeated exposure to a logo (Study 1) or more easily processed brand names (Studies 2 and 3), is associated with a stronger self-brand connection. Evidence across the studies supports that the sense of brand familiarity stemming from fluent assessment promotes narrative processes in which the brand is connected to aspects of one's life and that such narrative processing, in turn, leads to the formation of stronger self-brand connections. Further, such evidence is provided via direct measures of self-brand connections, investigation of consumers brand narratives, and hemostatic brain response as measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging.