Brand Engagement and Consumer Innovativeness

Abstract

Brand engagement describes the tendency of consumers to make the brands they buy part of their self-concept. This new insight into consumer behavior offers marketers many ways to create relationships with their customers. An unexplored aspect of brand engagement is how it is related to consumer innovativeness, the tendency to be among the first buyers of new products. The present study used survey data from 2399 adult U.S. consumers to show that brand engagement is positively related to consumer innovativeness. This finding suggests that in addition to promoting the features of new products likely to attract innovators, showing how the brand can express the self- concept of the innovator may also encourage its adoption.