1. The Meaning of Brand Consumption Rituals and Product Evaluation: The Mediation of Engagement
Prof. Zhimin Zhou,
Ling Zheng,
Jiaqi Lyu
Department of Marketing
Shenzhen University, China
Porto, Portugal, 05/19/2017

2. Backgrounds Kit Kat Chocolate “Kit Kat Music: Have a Break”
Guinness Beer
Good things come to those who wait

3. Review Rituals in the marketing area—
a type of expressive, symbolic activity constructed of multiple behaviors that occur in a fixed, episodic sequence, and tend to be repeated over time. ” (Rook, 1985)
Ritual behaviors, compared to a no-ritual condition, made chocolate more flavorful, valuable, and deserving of behavioral savoring (Vohs et al., 2013).

4. Question
Why and How do brand consumption rituals enhance product evaluation?
Since symbolic meaning is an important characteristic of a ritual activity, what is the role of ritual meaning?
In other words,
Can the symbolic meaning perception of brand consumption rituals enhance product evaluation?

5. Hypothesis 1
Meaning
The symbolic meaning is one of the important characteristics in ritual behavior (Rook, 1985).
Ritual’s meanings are conveyed through the use of symbolic artifacts (Tetreault & Kleine, 1990).
Meaning helps people produce positive brand associations, which enhance product evaluation.
H1: The perception of symbolic meaning in brand consumption rituals will enhance product evaluation.

6. Hypothesis 2 & 3 Meaning source and mediation
There are two kinds of meaning sources: told by others and guessed by themselves.
The meaning which is told by others is explicit and positive usually, while the meaning which is guessed by themselves is vague and negative possibly.
H2: Compared to the symbolic meaning associated, the symbolic meaning told has bigger effect on product evaluation.
The symbolic product meaning can predict product emotions (Rompay, Vries, & Hout, 2011).
The symbolic importance of private ritual actions have adopted the same perspective as those on the symbolic importance of goods (Gainer, 1995).
Furthermore, the emotional investment will attribute to engagement (O’Brien, Tom, 2010).
H3: Engagement mediates the effect of brand consumption ritual’s symbolic meaning on product evaluation.

7. Experiment 1 Meaning Purpose Design
Experiment 1 aims to test the effect of brand consumption rituals’ symbolic meaning on product evaluation.
Design
All participants (47 adult students, Female = 30, Mage = 25.39, SD = 3.75) are divided into two groups: experiment group (aware of symbolic meaning, 26 students), and control group (unaware of symbolic meaning, 21 students).
The groups are divided according to the meaning perception by their self-report.

8. Experiment 1
Ritual
We launch a virtual biscuit brand named “A”. Before tasting the biscuit, all participants in two groups were required to perform a sequential gestures:
(1) To break 1/3 of the biscuit and tasted the first 1/3 part.
(2) Then break the other 1/3 of the biscuit and tasted it.
(3) Finally, finish tasting the last 1/3 biscuit.

9. Experiment 1 Manipulation Symbolic meaning Previous preference
A relevant text explains the meaning of the ritual, which is that three breaks represent three 1/3 days (morning, afternoon, and evening) .
All participants were asked to read the text in 1 minute.
Then, they answered a question “ Do you perceive the meaning of the ritual you just did” (yes or no).
Previous preference
In order to eliminate the effect of previous preference on biscuit, we set a pre-test to ask all participants: “How much do you like biscuits?” (7-point Likert Scale; “1” means very dislike, and “7” means very like)
The result of ANOVA revealed that previous preference has no significant effect on symbolic meaning (F(6,40) =.565, p>0.05)

10. Findings
Compared to those who didn’t perceive symbolic meaning, participants who perceived symbolic meaning reported higher product evaluation (M = 4.76, SD = 1.56 vs. M = 3.63, SD = 1.24, t(47) = 2.78, p <0.01).

11. Experiment 2 Meaning source and mediation Purpose Design
(1) We want to know whether the symbolic meaning told and the symbolic meaning guessed have different effects on product evaluation.
(2) We want to find out whether ritual engagement plays the mediating role.
Design
All participants (73 college students, Male=29, Mage=20.9, SD=1.05) are divided into two groups: experiment group (symbolic meaning told, 35 students) and control group (symbolic meaning guessed, 38 students)

12. Experiment 2
Ritual
We launch a virtual coffee brand named “B”. Before drinking the coffee, all participants in two groups were required to perform a sequential gestures:
(1)Stirring the coffee clockwise in four circles.
(2) Take a deep breaths and smell the coffee.
(3)Then stirring the coffee anticlockwise in four circles.
(4)Finally, taste the coffee.

13. Experiment 2 Manipulation Symbolic meaning: told or guessed
We provided the experiment group with a relevant text about four seasons and four tastes to explain the ritual meaning and asked them to read the text in 1 minute. In the control group, we provided nothing but required participants to think about the symbolic meaning in 1 minute.
Degree of symbolic meaning
We use the scale to measure symbolic meaning (5 items, Likert 7 point scale; “1” is completely disagree, “7”is completely agree). According to the score, we divided the sample into three parts (high/middle/low): Low symbolic meaning (25 students, M=2.93, SD=1.39), middle symbolic meaning (23 students, M=3.84, SD=1.08), and high symbolic meaning(25 students, M=4.96, SD=1.26)

14. Findings
(1) An ANOVA revealed that symbolic meaning told and meaning guessed have no different effect on product evaluation. (F(1,71)=.073, p>0.05)
(2) We divided the symbolic meaning into three parts: Low symbolic meaning (25 students, M=2.93, SD=1.39), middle symbolic meaning (23 students, M=3.84, SD=1.08), and high symbolic meaning (25 students, M=4.96, SD=1.26).
ANOVA revealed that different degree of symbolic meaning has different positive effect on product evaluation (F(2，72)=14.55, p<0.01).
(3) PROCESS also reveal that when entered engagement as mediators in the model, the results of a BC bootstrapping analysis(based on 1000 bootstraps) revealed that engagement mediated the effect of symbolic meaning on product evaluation，95% bias-corrected CI=[0.01,0.39], thereby indicating partial mediation.
Symbolic meaning
Engagement
Product evaluation
0.29（0.13）*
0.64（0.07）***
0.47（0.17）**

15. Conclusion and direction
The perception of symbolic meaning in brand consumption rituals will enhance product evaluation.
The symbolic meaning told has no different effect on product evaluation with the symbolic meaning guessed.
Engagement mediates the effect of brand consumption ritual’s symbolic meaning on product evaluation.
Direction
Will the uniqueness of symbolic meaning in brand consumption rituals enhance product evaluation?
Will the relevance of symbolic meaning in brand consumption rituals enhance product evaluation?