Combining online market research methods for investigating brand alignment: the case of Nespresso

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a research approach to investigate brand alignment by exploiting textual data from online brand communities in the coffee industry. Specifically, consumer brand associations from UGC and company brand associations from FGC are explored to measure the alignment between brand identity and brand image. The selected context of research is the beverage industry wherein companies are called on to develop appropriate digital websites and brand communication strategies to enhance the consumers’ brand experience. Design/methodology/approach – The authors introduce a research approach that integrates netnography with text-mining analysis. Since brand associations were the basis of our analysis, the authors focused on text-mining procedures, providing data (co-occurrences) corresponding to brand associations that consumers perceive, and that the company communicates. Data were used to develop the measurements of brand alignment. Findings – The main findings of this research highlight the importance for both scholars and practitioners of determining brand alignment of beverage products in online communities. Knowing the alignment between the way a company communicates its brand identity and how this is perceived by consumers allows for effectively reviewing brand communication. Originality/value – Although the combined analysis of the alignment between brand image and brand identification has received attention in marketing literature, most scholars have neglected how to measure brand alignment., This is a need for many marketing managers in the coffee industry who are now moving in digital environments where the role of consumers is not that of receivers of brand communication, but rather, that of co-creators of brand value.