Does Concept Recall in Brand Image Show High Loyalty? An Experimental Study on the Apple MacBook

With technological advancements, product functionality and durability often exceed the standard that consumers require, and there is little difference between brands. This implies that competitiveness between brands is shifting to emotional value, such as design and usability, from functional value. The importance of emotional value is now recognized, and companies increasingly focus on the value creation. Despite improved design and usability, products may seem similar from the consumer's perspective, and it becomes difficult to enhance their perceptions of product value. This may be attributed to the ambiguous concept. Design and usability are effective means of embodying value, but these are not the essence of value. Consumers who attracted to superficial features like design will easily switch brands when another product with a more fashionable design appears. If a consumer remains loyal to a brand, it is because they understand, sympathize with, and value the brand's concept. However, few studies have focused on brand concept as a factor of loyalty. Accordingly, the present study hypothesized that consumers who recall a brand concept are more likely to exhibit loyalty than consumers who recall specific features, such as design and usability. It was evaluated the four brands loyalty factors-concept, design, usability, and technology-for Apple's MacBook, which has a strong brand in Japan. The results showed that the concept effect was the largest, proving that concept management is crucial for building and growing a strong brand. Hence, the concept recall index should be emphasized in brand management.