Although Brand Concept Maps (graphical representations of brand image) have been discussed in the marketing literature since the 1990s, mapping methods are still in their infancy. We broadened the scope of the method, using it to segment the market. We introduce a segmentation technique that uses brand perception as its main criteria, and apply our method to a real case, that is Lipton Ice Tea.

You will find more information on the webpage of Parodos Verlag (here) or you order the small, cheap book (only EUR 8,90) directly from BOL or amazon using the following link: amazon: seriell!: Das Basisprinzip der modernen Moderne

Have fun!

Consumer´s transformations in a liquid society: Introducing the concepts of autobiographical-concern and desire-assemblage (together with Pilar) will be published that year in the “Journal of Consumer Behaviour”

One strike and you´re out: Qualitative insights into formation of consumer perceived ethicality (together with Katja). To be published 2010 in the “Journal of Business Research”. download proof here.

More information will follow as soon as those papers are published. If you are interested, please send me an e-mail

I know its unfair to speak about Bucharest when its about bad service, especially when you live in Brussels. Yesterday, I had again a “Thats Like Bukarest” experience at Brussles airport. Only 4 Stations open for security check (that means all other stations closed), but not enough space for alle the passengers to queue up. When I asked a security person why they they not open more station the answer was clear: “Because its Wednesday afternoon”. That makes sense (at least to the Belgium Airport Service Design Personnel). All of us have lots of similar service experiences that must be improved. And its our job – the job of consumers — to take care for better service, to inform personnel about bad design, low effort or ability, and to blame the worse companies. So I ask you now to report YOUR personal “Thats Like Bukarest” experiences. Please go to the “participate” section and share your stories with us… I will try to find patterns and give you some tools how YOU could improve the service you are offered….

Es war in Düsseldorf. Am Flughafen. Im Lufthansabereich. In der Business-Class-Schlange. Dort war ein Schalter geöffnet — für ca 15 Kunden die brav in der Schlange warteten bis sie endlich an der Reihe waren. Daneben die Eco-Schlange. Deutlich kürzer (Düsseldorf!), dafür mehr geöffnete, bedienungs-willige Schalter… Plötzlich hinter mir eine laute Stimme, die es sicher gewohnt ist Befehle zu erteilen, im österreichischen Slang: “Des is ja wie in Bukarest“. Und geboren war die Idee, schlechten Service endlich zu benennen. Und die Verursacher auch bloßzustellen. Und dafür borge ich mir den Slogan “Wie in Bukarest”. Ich bin sicher, jeder von Ihnen hat auch solche Erlebnisse. Teilen wir sie doch, finden wir Muster und geben Empfehlungen was jeder einzelne tun kann, so dass das Service-Niceau für uns alle steigt! Machen Sie also mit! Schreiben Sie uns Ihre Bukarest-Geschichte (unter “Participate”) eines wirklich schlechten Service-Erlebnisses! Zwischenberichte und Ergebnisse finden Sie dann wieder hier! Merci fürs mitmachen

Based on 20 long interviews (McCracken 1988) with general consumers, this research demonstrates that the impact of various kinds of un/ethical business practices of a given company on consumers’ perceived ethicality (CPE) is asymmetrical. The resulting taxonomy identifies three distinct dimensions of varying direction and impact on CPE: (1) Monovalent ethical dissatisfiers which have a negative effect; (2) Bivalent ethical dis/satisfiers that either favorably or unfavorably influence ethical perceptions, commensurate with a company’s efforts; and (3) Monovalent ethical satisfiers, capable of generating a positive impact. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for managers and academics.

At the Pittsburgh ACR conference we presented a poster on “Compensatory Consumption when saying Good-Bye“. Mail me if you are interested in the topic or our short paper. A pdf version of the poster is available here!

The universality of design perception and response is tested using data collected from 10 countries: Argentina, Australia, China, Germany, Great Britain, India, The Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, and the United States. A Bayesian, finite-mixture, structural equation model is developed that identifies latent logo clusters while accounting for heterogeneity in evaluations. The concomitant variable approach allows cluster probabilities to be country specific. Rather than a priori defined clusters, our procedure provides a posteriori cross-national logo clusters based on consumer response similarity. Our model reduces the 10 countries to three cross-national clusters that respond differently to logo design dimensions: the West, Asia, and Russia. The dimensions under- lying design are found to be similar across countries, suggesting that elaborateness, naturalness, and harmony are universal design dimensions. Responses (affect, shared meaning, subjective familiarity, and true and false recognition) to logo design dimensions (elaborateness, naturalness, and harmony) and elements (repetition, pro- portion, and parallelism) are also relatively consistent, although we find minor differences across clusters. Our results suggest that managers can implement a global logo strategy, but they also can optimize logos for specific countries if desired.