Abstract:
The cafe market in Islamabad has experienced a sudden change, as the traditional cafe shops have changed into the experiential lifestyle cafes where visual appeal is the main competitive advantage. In spite of this market development, empirical studies of the causal nature between the use of visual identity of cafes and consumer behavioral outcomes are limited in non-Western and emerging urban settings like Pakistan. This paper presents quantitative research on how brand positioning based on aesthetics influences brand perception and customer preference among Islamabad young urban consumers. The study is based on an integrated theoretical approach which is a combination of Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model by Keller (2013), Sensory Marketing Theory by Krishna (2012) and Halo Effect by Thorndike (1920) and utilized a cross-sectional, quantitative survey design to analyze the results of 300 young consumers aged 18 to 35 years. The results showed that each of four visual identity elements, such as interior design, colour scheme, lighting, and social media imagery had a positive and significant influence on brand perception, and social media imagery had the most significant impact (0.36). Customer choice was closely predicted by brand perception (0.69) and the most significant dimension was the emotional appeal. The Halo Effect was supported as brand perception completely mediated the relationship between every visual identity component and customer choice. The visual identity-brand perception interaction with interior design, lighting and social media imagery was moderated by social media exposure, which enhances the effect of consumers of high social media exposure. The model was able to explain the variance in brand perception (52 percent) as well as customer choice (48 percent). The research adds to the marketing literature by combining three theoretical ideas into a validated model, breaking down visual identity into managerial actionable items, applying the CBBE model to an up-and-coming South Asian economy, and showing the moderating effect of social media exposure. Practical implications imply the ideas that owners of cafes ought to focus on investing in the social media visuals and interior design, design to appeal to emotions, integrate physical and digital spaces, and brand perception as an important key performance indicator.
