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Building customer–brand relationships in the mobile communications market: The role of brand tribalism and brand reputation

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Abstract

The mobile communications industry is an important sector with European total revenues growing approximately 10 per cent per year and reaching 174 billion in 2007 (GSMA, 2008). Markets all over Europe are mature, and the operators engage in intense competition for customers. Heavy investments are made in marketing in order to gain new customers, whereas few efforts are made to retain the customers and build profitable long-term relationships (Ferguson and Brohaugh, 2008). The aim of this article is to outline the Portuguese mobile communications market from the relationship-marketing point of view, and to review the antecedents of customer–brand relationships. A web-based survey on a sample of 606 older Generation Y mobile communication users was conducted. Optimus, TMN and Vodafone are all implementing marketing strategies based on emotions. They are building customer databases to manage relationships with their corporate brand/company, but our results reveal that not all of them reach the same level of attitude towards their brand, reputation, tribalism or satisfaction with the brand. TMN, despite being the market leader, demonstrates a poor level of results in terms of customer–brand relationship building. On the basis of the findings of this research, implications for marketing practice and directions for further research are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Braga 4710-057, Campus Gualtar, Portugal

    Brigita Jurisic & António Azevedo

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  1. Brigita Jurisic
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  2. António Azevedo
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1concluded her studies of psychology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2006. She continued academic work through Masters studies in Marketing and Strategic Management at University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. She is a researcher dedicated to work in the area of internationalisation of SMEs, as well as to research in the area of relationship between the product/brand and consumer.

2received his PhD degree in Management Sciences in 2003 from the School of Economics and Management at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. Since 2006, he is Assistant Professor in the Marketing Department and researcher of iMARKE, the research unit of Marketing and Strategic Management. He has published several papers on the following research topics: branding management, marketing communication, place marketing, public marketing, experiential and tourism marketing.

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Jurisic, B., Azevedo, A. Building customer–brand relationships in the mobile communications market: The role of brand tribalism and brand reputation. J Brand Manag 18, 349–366 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2010.37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2010.37

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