Relaying to customer empowerment strategies to develop new products? Yes… But for what brand type?
(A2019-9851)

AUTHORS

Hajer Bachouche, South Champagne Business School - ESC Troyes; Ouidade Sabri, Sorbonne Business School

KEYWORDS

Consumer empowerment strategies; Brand familiarity; Brands

ABSTRACT

Research on customer empowerment strategies as a tool for new product development has identified several boundary conditions (e.g. sector of activity, degree of openness to consumers) that could undermine efficiency of those practices. However, to date, no attention has been given to the effect of empowerment practices in the context of familiar vs. unfamiliar brands. Despite that both brands associated with high familiarity and also those with low familiarity are mobilizing empowerment strategies to innovate, the role of brand familiarity as a potential moderating variable has not been investigated yet. Building on two experiments, we are demonstrating that empowerment practices are more beneficial for low familiarity brands than for highly familiar ones for two different categories of products in consumers’ goods sector. We are also showing that empowerment strategies are still enhancing brand indicators for familiar brands but not tremendously in comparison to the effect on low familiarity brands.