Abstract:
Consumer loyalty and satisfaction are major marketing concepts that have long been the center of academic researchers’ attention. However in the recent times, brand love has appeared as a new marketing construct which has been the recipient of limited attention but appears to be attracting a budding interest among researchers. A mutual, productive, multiplex and strong willed relationship, as based on the consumer-brand relationship between a brand and its satisfied customers is known as brand love. It comprises of three fundamentals, namely brand intimacy, brand passion, and brand commitment. The hypothesis involving the concept of brand love has been tested using survey/questionnaire research in this study. This research has attempted to empirically investigate the influence of ad engagement in enhancing brand love in the consumers of apparel industry of Pakistan. The focus, however, remained on examining the mediating role played by purchase urgency between the ad engagement (independent variable) and brand love( the dependent variable).. The study has accordingly estimated a series of linear regression models to demonstrate variation in brand love through ad engagement and purchase urgency. The method suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) is employed on the cross-sectional data from 310 respondents within twin cities of Pakistan. Findings advise ad engagement positively affects love. Moreover, strong information content is found suggesting that the equivalent link is moderated by purchase urgency. It is therefore sustained, as hypothesized, that the induction of the feeling of brand love is stronger upon generation of purchase urgency through ad engagement. Finally, the present study has highlighted its contribution in view of the present field of inquiry. This is done alongside the acknowledgement of conceptual and methodological limitations as well as the directions for future research
