Exploring brand confusion through hotel adverts

Abstract

Brand confusion takes place when a person views an advertisement for aparticular brand as a communication about a different brand. The purpose of thisstudy is to investigate the problem of brand confusion in advertising and morespecifically, to study into more depth some of the parameters that lead to brandconfusion in print advertising of international hotel-chains. This study wasconducted in 127 men and women, and based on 17 international hotel-chainadvertisements. Respondents were selected through quota sampling, using ageand education as variables. Consumer characteristics and the dependent variable‘brand confusion’ were measured through a questionnaire completed duringinterview, while print advertisements were presented followed by a set ofquestions containing measures of the attitude towards the advertisement. Thepurpose of this study was to explore the issue of brand confusion in advertising ofinternational hotel chains, a topic never surveyed in the past. This study waslimited to a specific product category (international hotel chains), hence practicalimplications should be formulated with caution. Nevertheless, the followingsuggestions seem to be valid: The affective reaction to hotel advertisement is veryimportant; advertisement likeability leads to less hotel brand confusion; hoteladvertisements should be distinctive and not too information dense; buildingawareness, loyalty and involvement reduce brand confusion.