THE EFFECT OF BRAND IMAGE ON CONSUMER TASTE PREFERENCE

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between brand image and consumer’s taste preference. Brand image in consumer’s mind was measured by making them taste the same product in different bottles which were in different branded bottles. In first experiment all ketchups were same but branded differently. This experiment was conducted to identify if consumer’s taste preference is independent of brand image. Since the results reveal that consumer prefer the brand that they are currently using regardless of same taste it was concluded that the taste preference is independent on brand image. The second experiment was a confirmatory experiment where all flavors of ketchup were unbranded. This experiment was conducted to verify whether taste preference and brand used at home have the same association. It was found that the consumer prefer those brands which were not in use after having a blind taste. This confirms that the first response of taste preference is more of the brand image rather than product taste itself. The total numbers of respondents were 102 who participated in the experiment and completed the questionnaire. Optimal Scaling (CATREG) is used to explain the relationship between brand image and consumer taste preferences. The first experiment identifies that brand image has a positive effect on consumers’ mindset and they prefer the brand which is used at home, therefore the significance value is less than 0.05. The second value demonstrates that taste preference explains the change in brand image, raising the significance value over 0.05. The second experiment demonstrated that taste preferences may change when the brand image changes and the overall finding from the first trial indicated that there is a relationship between the brand image and the currently favored brand.