Opt-Out Effect, The: Marketing Strategies that Empower Consumers and Win Customer-Driven Brand Loyalty

3. The New Look of Loyalty

For decades marketers have focused on building strong brand relationships, marked by high customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, and favorable brand attitudes. “Over the course of the past decade, firms have come to the realization that one of the most effective tools they have to hedge against risk is the portfolio of relationships that consumers form with the company’s brands,” said marketing scholars Susan Fournier, Michael Breazeale, and Marc Fetscherin. “Strong relationships guarantee cash flows in the form of brand loyalties and trial of new brand extensions, create supply-side cost advantages through evangelism and word-of-mouth advocacy, and protect shareholder value in the wake of the crises that inevitably ...