Iconic Brand: its componential factors and impacts on brand community : A cross-cultural study in Sweden, Taiwan and Vietnam

Abstract: Iconic brand is a new topic in the field of branding that has started to attract researchers’ attentions; yet, it is still mostly discussed in the non-academic field. Brand community is also an evolving topic in marketing. These two new concepts are the focuses of this research. The main subject of this research is to explore the componential factors of iconic brand and brand community and the influences of the former ones on the latter ones. Even though there are few books and articles related to iconic brand, so far no quantitative research has been conducted. Thus, in this study, quantitative method is used to explore the componential factors of iconic brand. The same method is applied to brand community as well to explore the impacts of iconic brand on brand community. This research also accounts for a fact that cultural differences of the three countries (Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam) may affect respondents’ perceptions on the factors of iconic brand and brand community, as well as the impact levels between them. This study starts with examining the relevant literatures of branding, iconic brand, brand community, and cultural aspects of branding. Then, the hypotheses and research model are proposed based on theories. Questionnaires are distributed to Swedish, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese respondents in accordance with convenience sampling and snowball sampling. A total collection of 486 accepted questionnaires (which includes 171 questionnaires from Sweden, 163 ones from Taiwan, and 152 ones from Vietnam) is coded and analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS. Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA) and Cronbach’s Alpha are used to test the measurement reliability and consistency. Together with them, other statistical techniques, such as ANOVA and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) are employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Semi-structured interviews are then conducted, based on the results of quantitative analysis, with six dynamic consumers from the three countries to explore further the cultural differences for the topic in Sweden, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The results show that iconic brand has three componential factors: brand personality, brand myth, and brand storytelling, while brand community has two factors: brand loyalty and emotional attachment to brand community. Also, the findings reveal that brand personality has the most positive impacts on brand loyalty while brand storytelling has the lowest positive impact on brand loyalty. Other impacts of iconic brand’s factors on brand community’s factors are positively moderate. Furthermore, both quantitative and qualitative results confirm the hypotheses of cultural differences in respondents’ perceptions (in the three countries) on iconic brand’s factors, brand community’s factors, and the positive impact levels between them.