Consumer brand classifications: an assessment of culture‐of‐origin versus country‐of‐origin

Examines consumers’ perception of brands as influenced by their origins and the differences in classification ability between consumers’ knowledge levels. Specifically, culture‐of‐brand‐origin (COBO) is proposed to have replaced country‐of‐origin (COO) as the most important origin influence regarded by consumers in their perceptions of brands. Culture‐of‐brand‐origin is used to mean the cultural origin or heritage of a brand. Data were gathered from 459 respondents in the Asian city of Singapore; and used to assess Singaporean consumers’ ability to classify the cultural origins of fashion clothing brands. This was compared to their ability to classify the country origins of the same brands. Six brands were used in a between‐subjects design, with three brands of western countries and three of eastern countries. Results indicate that consumers can more readily identify the cultural origin of brands over their country‐of‐origin. Reveals that a consumer’s ability to make this distinction is influenced by the consumer’s perception of how well he/she knows the brand.