Introduction
Many companies today turn to co-branding, pairing their brands with one another in collaborative marketing efforts (“What is the logic behind Co-Branding?” 2010). Although the concept of co-branding is not new, it became specifically evident in the era where the companies’ brands started bearing a value, equal to the company’s tangible assets. There are many reasons to embark on co-branding programs, but the rationale can be seen specifically obvious for the case of mobile phones. With the rapid advancements in mobile technologies, the companies reached a point where the three important components of successful mobile phone models on the market, i.e. technical characteristics, software, and design, are gradually equalized for different manufacturers. The usage of co-branding is one of the effective methods of overcoming such a dilemma, where the cooperation between different brands was used in other industries (McKee, 2009). It should be noted that the wide recognition of the partner in co-branding is seen as one of the aspects, where the importance of other elements such as the attributes of the product and the preferences of the consumers might be questioned.
The Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the proposed study will be to elaborate on and clarify the link between co-branding and the product attribute preferences for a Motorola mobile phone brand. The study will use data from surveys to answer the following questions: 1) “does co-branding increase consumer perceptions of the price, quality, and image of the product attribute?”; 2) “what attribute(s) preferences are not affected by co-branding?”
Participants
The participants of the study will be young consumers, 20-29 years of age. The participants will be acquaintances, friends, and visitors of social networks on the internet. Additionally, part of the participants will be students affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, which the author of the research is currently studying, with no preferences for race, gender or ethnic groups. The main consideration is paid to the age group, which will be selected on the basis that this category falls within the age group of the university and college students.
Research Design/Procedures
The Hypothesis
The hypothesis of this study states that the collaboration of a mobile phone brand with another market brand will not significantly change the attributes preferences of the mobile phone brand. The null hypothesis for this study is:
The collaboration between a mobile phone brand and another market brand will lead to a significant change of attribute preferences for the mobile phones of the selected mobile phone brand.
The Rationale for the Study
The benefits of the study can be seen twofold. On the one hand, the findings might outline the weight that consumers put on the image component of mobile phones, as compared to the functional. Comparing devices with similar functionalities, in which one is co-branded with another major brand, a substantial price difference might exist. In that regard, from a business point of view, the study might indicate for marketers, which attributes of the product can be reduced in a co-branding initiative. On the other hand, the same can be said about the attribute, the sacrifice of which might negatively impact the sales of the co-branded product. On an individual level, there are direct benefits expected in this study.
Sampling Procedures
The main inclusion criterion for the participants in the high-quality age group, where participants above the age of 30 will be excluded from the study. The exclusion will be based largely on a visual identity for personal selection, and general guidelines on the survey. The rationale for such criteria can be seen in the importance given by the specific age group for the brand name and the extensive usage of the specific attributes of the product, e.g. cameras, games, etc. The sampling was non-probability convenience sampling of the students whom the authors of the study know, including the students of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW). The link will be posted on social networks over the internet, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, My Space, etc. For the students of (UWW), the link to the survey will be given upon their approval for participating in the study. Additionally, snowball sampling will be used, in which the participants applicable to the selection criteria will be asked to recommend and provide the link of the survey to their friends, who are applicable to the selection criteria.
Research Procedures
A survey was composed (see Appendix) consisting of several parts, a basic survey and a basic information questionnaire intended to categorize the respondents and their basic preferences. The second part is Likert scale questions, which will measure the dependent variable in the study, i.e. the preferences of product attributes. The independent variable is the co-branding of mobile phones with a brand of choice or selected from a list.
The data collection will be consisting of several steps, which after receiving the complete approved protocol from UWW for the UWW participants, the surveys will be collected from the website SurveyMonkey, which link was given to the participants, upon the return of which the answers will be reviewed for completeness. The estimated duration for the study is approximately a week, where 3 days will be given for collecting the participants, with the rest of the week given for data retrieval so as to reduce the possibility of low return. The location of the data collection will be the UWW campus. The data will be analyzed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
Rewards
No rewards will be established for the study, where the participants will be solely on a voluntary basis.
Safeguarding the Identity
The information gathered from the participants might be used as a part of the research, in case it will be published. The data which will be used implies the only statistical representation of the correlation between the investigated variables. No personal information will be given to any third party, including the respondents’ emails. The statistical data used will not allow the identification of the participants in any direct or indirect way.
The immediate use of data will be comprised of measuring the correlation, through a statistical program. The long range of data will show only the findings of the study, and the implications for practical use.
Risk
Minimal risk is expected for the study. In case such risks do occur, such risks might be expected from potential intrusion to the data collected from the respondents, which will be accordingly connected to their email addresses. Nevertheless, it can be stated that such risk is minimal as well as the harm that might be produced, while on the other hand, the potential benefit of the knowledge might outweigh such risks. The study will attempt to contribute to the area of marketing and explaining the behavior of consumers.
Deception
No deception will be used
Consent
As the survey will be provided in electronic form, the consent of the participants will obtain through include the consent statement on the cover page of every survey. The informed consent statement, which will be used, can be seen below:
You are to participate in a research project called “Effects of Co-branding on Product Attribute Preferences”, which is conducted by_____________. The study has the main purpose of learning what effect co-branding has on the product attributes preferences. The expected length of this study is 10-15 minutes, during which you will be required to select the answer that corresponds to your preferences as well as providing personal information. The answers to the survey will be collected electronically, by sending the survey sheet to the email address indicated at the end of this page.
The potential risks of this study include the possibility of information theft and subsequent misuse. There are no direct or indirect benefits to you from participating in this study. The answers that you provide might help marketing analysts better understand buyer behavior. The study does not involve any treatment or any alternative procedures.
The answers that you will provide will be kept confidential, where every effort will be made to safeguard your personal and other information from unauthorized access. Your name will not be used in any reports, publications or future presentations that might be derived for this study. The information used will be encrypted using TrueCrypt, disk encryption software, which will limit the access only to the author of this research. The research project is not conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater or any affiliated department, and they will not be able to identify the identity of the respondents through the copy of the results, which they shall receive.
Participation in this study is voluntary, and you can withdraw at any time. There is no penalty for the withdrawal of the study as well as there is no reward for participation.
Appendixes
Appendix 1
Questionnaire on the Effects of Co-branding on Product Attribute Preferences
A Study of Young Consumers and Mobile Phones:
- There is no right or wrong answer. Your answers are confidential (no one that you know will be told what you answered).
Basic Survey on Mobile Phone
Single scale tick one of them.
Further Survey on Handset Attribute Preferences
This part aims to find how co-branding affects consumers’ attribute preferences. For example, which part of mobile phone characteristics could be sacrificed or the norm could be changed.
Co-branding on mobile phonesrefers to a mobile phone brand cooperate with other market brands and develop a new model.
For example, LG has LG-PRADA and LG-PRADAⅡ that are classic mobile phone co-branding. They utilize PRADA’s logo and unique brand image like high quality, up-market, luxury, fashion, etc. in the design of the LG-PRADA model.
Basic Survey on Co-branding Preferences of Handset
Further Survey on Co-branding Handset Attribute Preferences
Basic Information
You’ve finished this questionnaire.
Thank you for your assist!!
References
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
McKee, S. (2009). The Pros and Cons of Co-Branding. Business Week. Web.
Trochim, W. M. K. (2006). Nonprobability Sampling. Social Methods Research. Web.
What is the logic behind Co-Branding? (2010). Management-Hub.com. Web.