Antecedents and Consequences of Brand Love for Apple

Abstract

Satisfaction was, for many years, the main goal of marketing strategy. However, later studies showed that satisfying consumers was not enough for a company to succeed in a very competitive market. Thus, the concept of brand love emerged. Therefore, the study of the factors that lead consumers to feel love for a brand has become increasingly important, because nowadays consumers develop emotional and passionate relationships with brands. The purpose of our study is to identify the main antecedents and consequences of apple brand love. Based on a sample of 215 respondents, we used the structural equation model. The antecedents of apple brand love are hedonic product, brand experience, and satisfaction. The consequences of Apple brand love were analysed as loyalty and word-of-mouth. The results showed that the purchase of a hedonic product, brand experience, and brand satisfaction are essential for consumers to nurture love for the Apple brand. In turn, the hedonic product is also an antecedent of brand experience and brand satisfaction while brand experience has also been shown to be crucial in achieving Apple brand satisfaction. In turn, Apple brand love and satisfaction with this brand generate loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. Finally, loyal consumers speak positively about the Apple brand.