Byron Sharp transformed marketers’ understanding of brand loyalty. His work showed that repeat purchasing often reflects habit, familiarity and availability rather than exclusive devotion to a brand. But routine is not the only kind of consumer-brand relationship.
Drawing on a new study of 4,200 consumers and 42 brands, Jim White, Ph.D., president of RealityCheck Consulting, will introduce identity relevance: the degree to which a brand becomes part of how consumers understand, express and develop who they are.
The analysis reveals three broad foundations of brand loyalty: routine and pragmatism, functional trust and identity relevance. It also shows striking differences between brands within the same categories. Challenger brands including Gymshark, SoFi and AG1 often generate substantially more identity relevance than larger legacy competitors.
Key takeaways:
- How identity relevance extends current thinking about brand loyalty.
- How routine, trust and identity create different consumer relationships.
- Why challenger and legacy brands often produce different loyalty profiles.
- How marketers can diagnose and strengthen the sources of identity relevance.
