Qualitative Study on Brand Passion:The Role of Admiration and Experience

The purpose of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the development of brand passion and its influence on brand loyalty and attitude towards participation in brand community activities. Eighteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted on respondents’ favorite brand and data was analyzed using latent level thematic analysis. Apart from brand identification and trust, brand admiration and brand experience are indicated to lead to passion for brands among consumers. Sensory and intellectual brand experiences were indicated to be positively related to brand passion with sensory experiences being more commonly reported than intellectual Admiration though essential, was indicated not to lead to passion alone but in combination with experience or trust. Brand passion is suggested to be strongly related to brand loyalty. There are also indications of a link between brand passion and positive attitude towards participation in brand community activities but this also seems to be influenced by the consumer’s general attitude towards participation in communities.