Emotional Marketing Strategy and Consumer Brand Perceptions among Customers of East African Breweries Limited in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

The amount of available information is one of the key issues that customers face that complicates the decision-making process and leads to the standardization of items that are similar. East African Breweries Limited also faces the possibility of changing consumer tastes, thus the corporation relies on knowing what their customers want and need. This study therefore, sought to investigate the influence of emotional marketing strategy on consumer brand perceptions among customers of East African breweries limited in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study specifically examined the influence of emotional branding, emotional advertising and emotional intelligence on consumer brand perception. This study was guided by cognitive theory, brand equity theory and consumer utility theory. This study employed a descriptive research design. The study unit of analysis was EABL distributors in Nairobi City County, Kenya and the unit of observation was their registered customers from each distributor. Respondents were divided into 11 categories of EABL distributors within Nairobi City County using the stratified sampling technique. Thereafter, these respondents were selected using simple random sampling. The sample size of the study was 355 respondents. The study used primary data that was collected using questionnaires. Questionnaires were piloted to 36 respondents who were obtained from the same organization and were not included in the final study. To achieve construct validity, the researcher ensured that the indicators and measurements under each variable were carefully developed based on relevant existing knowledge and also ensured that the questionnaire included only relevant questions that measure the variables studied. Content validity was evaluated to ensure that the questionnaires covered all relevant parts of the subject it was intended to measure and also on the basis of their relevance and representation to the content domain. Reliability was measured using Cronbach’s alpha test and an alpha value of 0.774 was obtained which indicated a good reliability of the questionnaires. Descriptive statistical analysis such as mean and standard deviation were used as well as multiple regression to establish how variables influence one another. Emotional branding, emotional advertising and emotional intelligence were found to have a positive and significant influence on consumer brand perception in East African Breweries Limited, Kenya. The study concludes that emotional branding has enabled the organization to create, design and execute a branding strategy, based on its customer’s specific positive emotions. Emotional advertising can be extremely effective when done right because using attraction marketing and story branding ensures the audience will emotionally connect with the organization’s brand. Emotional intelligence enables the organization to understand customers’ moods, behaviors and impulses and control them to match a particular situation. The study recommends that the organization should identify its audience's emotional triggers by identifying what its target audience is most likely to be excited about and then incorporate that into each point in the sales funnel. The organization should make its customers feel happy so as to develop a brand association, share the brand’s content and share that happiness with their friends and family. The organization should drive traffic to its website and learn to work out how to get its brand in front of them at the right time. The organization should also use emotional intelligence to strengthen its marketing automation through nurturing prospects with highly personalized, useful content that helps convert prospects to delighted customers.