The Four Anchors of Brand Appeal: A Study into the Gaps in the Literature

Abstract

Brand loyalty has traditionally been taken to be highly emotional, a product of bonding, on the one hand, subject to a rational appeal, on the other, and as the end result of effective branding. Only in recent decades, have sensory considerations been brought into the model of brand identity, and also only in isolated research, have intuitive criteria come to be analyzed by a few authors. However no relevant research has considered these four elements combined, that is, rationality, emotions, the senses and intuition, as the basis for a more humane view of brand appeal and brand identity. This paper threads a stream of thought in the field, and identifies a significant gap in the literature concerning the holistic approach.