Cute brand logo enhances favorable brand attitude: The moderating role of hope

Abstract

A brand logo has significant influences on consumer evaluations of a brand. However, little research has examined the effectiveness of brand logo design. The present research thus seeks to extend the literature in this area by examining how cuteness associated with a brand logo might produce a more favourable brand attitude. Across two experimental studies, this research provides empirical evidence that a cute (vs. non-cute) brand logo can increase positive consumer attitude toward a brand, especially among those experiencing the emotion of hope (but not happiness or a neutral emotional state). Further, this effect is driven by the perceptions among consumers feeling hopeful (but not happy) that a cute (vs. non-cute) brand logo has higher levels of growth potential. The findings of this research thus make theoretical implications on the literature on brand logo, cuteness, and emotion literature, and offer managerial implications in terms of brand logo design effectiveness.

Introduction

A brand logo is one of the significant elements of a brand because it can positively influence brand loyalty (Jin et al., 2019), brand commitment (Japutra et al., 2016), brand equity (Lieven et al., 2015), and overall brand performance (Park et al., 2013; Sääksjärvi et al., 2015). Notably, brand logo can be considered as the most salient brand element (Baxter and Ilicic, 2018), thus having the potential to increase brand differentiation and positive brand evaluation (Kim and Lim, 2019). In 2020 alone, there were more than 10 big companies in the automotive, food, and automotive industries that have redesigned their brand logos (e.g., BMW, Burger King, and Intel) (AVIBE, 2021). Furthermore, these companies are willing to spend significant financial resources in doing so. For instance, Pepsi's logo redesigning costed $1 million, whereas Accenture's rebranding costed $100 million (Business Insider, 2013). As such, the examinations of brand logo highlights significant managerial implications for brands and companies.

Among different features of a brand logo, there is a growing interest among companies to incorporate cute characteristics (and even animated features) in their logos (e.g., the WWF black and white panda; also see Kramer, 2018; Workerbee, 2019). Indeed, marketers have widely employed cuteness in advertising (Wang et al., 2017), product design (Nenkov and Scott, 2014), and packaging (Schnurr, 2019). However, while previous works have explored the effects of various features of a brand logo, including colour (Jin et al., 2019), spacing (Gupta and Hagtvedt, 2021), and shape (Northey and Chan, 2020), the role of cuteness in brand logo remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of the present research is to investigate whether and how a cute brand logo can leverage consumers’ favourable responses.

We develop our theoretical rationale from the literature on kindchenschema cuteness, suggesting that cuteness, by definition, is associated with childlikeness and infantility (Wang et al., 2017). Some scholars have also argued that cuteness serves the evolutionary motive of kin care in adults, ensuring the survival of the young (Glocker et al., 2009; Lorenz, 1943; Nittono, 2019). These arguments are also consistent with the premise that children have strong potential to change and grow for the better (Cantor et al., 2019; Goodnow and Collins, 1990; Rautiainen et al., 2016). As such, we propose that a cute brand logo could elicit the perceptions of potential growth – that is, the potential for a brand to grow and develop to be better, which subsequently lead to a more favourable attitude toward the brand.

We further examine the role of a specific emotion as the condition under which such perceptions of potential growth can emerge. The examination of emotion is selected because theoretically, previous research in psychology and consumer research has established the significant role of emotions on consumer judgment and decision making (Lerner et al., 2015; So et al., 2015). From the practical standpoint, marketers have widely elicited emotions in their advertising and marketing communications (Cavanaugh et al., 2015; Septianto et al., 2019). Notably, the present research proposes that a cute brand logo can elicit the perceptions of potential growth among consumers experiencing the emotion of hope. This is because it makes consumers feel optimistic about the brand (MacInnis and De Mello, 2005; Winterich and Haws, 2011).

We test these predictions across two experimental studies with different emotion manipulation tasks and logo stimuli. As such, these findings make several theoretical and managerial implications. First, we contribute to the brand logo literature by examining the role of cuteness on a brand logo and its potential outcomes on consumer behaviour. This is significant because while prior research has examined different elements of a brand logo (Baxter and Ilicic, 2018; Gupta and Hagtvedt, 2021; Northey and Chan, 2020), our research is among the first studies examining the role of cuteness in a brand logo. Second, this research also contributes to the literature on kindchenschema cuteness by establishing the mediating role of the potential growth of a brand. This is meaningful because even though prior research has demonstrated that cuteness can elicit favourable consumer responses (Li and Yan, 2021; Shin and Mattila, 2021; Wang et al., 2017), its underlying mechanism remains unclear. Third, by demonstrating the moderating role of hope in eliciting the perceptions of growth from a cute brand logo, we contribute to the emotion literature and offer a more nuanced understanding of hope (So et al., 2015; Winterich and Haws, 2011). Last, the findings of this research have managerial implications for marketers in creating a more favourable brand attitude using brand logo design.