Impact of brand familiarity on brands experience dimensions for financial services brands

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of brand familiarity on the various dimensions of brand experience, and to identify the factor structure of brand familiarity for financial services brands. Design/methodology/approach - This study used a convenience sampling technique by contacting 216 respondents, and examined the relationship between brand experience dimensions and brand familiarity. An independent sample t-test was performed to assess the differences for brand experience dimensions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed for both low familiarity and high familiarity service brands to highlight the differences. Findings - The improvement in brand familiarity is positive for sensory, emotional, behavioral and relational brand experiences for high familiarity service brands. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis found a four-factor brand experience model for low brand familiarity and a five-factor brand experience structure for high familiarity financial services brands. The study of financial services brands validates the service brand experience framework of Nysveen et al. (2013) for high familiarity brands, but not for low familiarity financial services brand. Practical implications - There is a need for marketers to comprehend various dimensions of brand experience in the context of financial services brands which are experiencing increased competition with non-banks. Originality/value - The study makes a contribution to the existing literature as the concept of brand familiarity and its relationship with brand experience have received scant attention in the past.