Designing Brand Intelligence Model in Tourism Startups: a Mixed Approach

Abstract

In today's competitive environment the use of intelligence in various aspects of business, including branding, allows organizations to achieve a high competitive position. The purpose of this research was to present the brand intelligence model in tourism start-ups and test the validity of the model. This research was exploratory mixed research. The grounded theory approach was used in the qualitative part. Six university professors and 18 tourism startup brand managers were interviewed through snowball sampling. The statistical population included managers and employees of tourism start-ups in the quantitative part. Finally, 384 questionnaires were collected using a convenience sampling method. A questionnaire based on the Likert scale was used to collect data and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the research data. According to the results, structural factors, management factors, internal content factors and external content factors as causal conditions can influence the intelligence of the tourism brand. Also, economic, socio-cultural, and political awareness as contextual factors and cultural factors, human resources, financial resources, and technological resources as intervening factors have a significant impact on brand intelligence strategies. These strategies include major change, partial change, and no change in the brand. Finally, brand intelligence strategies also have a significant impact on brand intelligence consequences. The results of this research have significantly helped to make the brand management process of organizations intelligent and provide a useful research tool for future studies.IntroductionIn order to get the best results from their brands, organizations should audit their brand capabilities, evaluate external issues affecting their brand, and then create a brand plan that defines the brand's actual goals and the strategy to achieve them. Researchers have developed a new method to analyze brand importance, called the Brand Intelligence Brand Semantic Score program. They have introduced brand intelligence as a method for brand analysis and brand positioning evaluation. However, according to the searches, a model for brand intelligence has yet to be provided. A strong brand is essential for tourism start-ups; it simplifies customers' decisions and creates a competitive advantage. The start-up brand is a very influential incentive in the consumer's purchasing decision when choosing a destination. Therefore, tourism start-ups should strengthen branding concepts and create a positive image in the minds of current and future tourists. To achieve this, brands must continuously manage, enhance and evaluate brand equity and other essential brand metrics. This is possible through "brand intelligence." However, according to the surveys, there needs to be more literature on brand management and intelligence in tourism start-ups, especially in Iran. Therefore, to fill the research gaps, researchers intend to provide a comprehensive model for brand intelligence and identify and test the factors related to brand intelligence with a mixed approach.MethodologyThis research is of mixed exploratory type. The grounded theory approach has been used in the qualitative part, and in the quantitative part, structural equation modeling has been used. In the first stage, a model for brand intelligence was designed, and in the second stage, the validity of the presented model was tested. In the qualitative part, six university professors and 18 marketing and brand managers of tourism start-ups were interviewed using snowball sampling. The statistical population in the quantitative part includes managers and employees of tourism start-ups. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula of 384 people. A simple cluster sampling method was used for sampling. A questionnaire based on a Likert scale was used to collect data, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.Discussion and ResultsQualitative data analysis showed that structural factors (existing organizational structure, flexibility of organizational structure, vital role of brand manager in organizational decisions), managerial factors (support and skill of top manager, resistance to change, manager's understanding of the benefits of brand intelligence, up-to-date view of top manager), internal content factors (understanding data and information, understanding the brand and understanding the product), and external content factors (understanding the market, competitors, and tourists) are causal factors that directly affect brand intelligence. Fundamental brand changes (brand name change, brand slogan change, brand promise change, brand identity change), minor brand changes (changing some brand elements, changing some brand management measures, continuing to move toward brand identity), and no change of brand (continuing to move towards brand identity, strengthening brand position by overseeing brand actions and tracking the factors affecting brand) were identified as brand intelligence strategies, According to the results, brand intelligence can have consequences for the brand and, consequently, the whole organization. The consequences of brand intelligence for the brand are brand agility, brand health, brand equity, brand performance, and brand position. Organizational consequences of brand intelligence include organizational agility, organizational performance, satisfaction/loyalty, and sustainable and temporary competitive advantage. In this research, cultural, human, financial, and technological resources are intervening factors. Economic, sociocultural, and political awareness were also identified as contextual factors. According to quantitative findings, structural, managerial, and content factors (causal conditions) can influence brand intelligence. The findings confirmed the effect of brand intelligence, contextual factors, and intervening factors on strategies and the effect of these strategies on the consequences of brand intelligence.ConclusionIn response to new-age brand management trends, this study aims to increase our understanding of brand intelligence and provide a valid model for brand intelligence of tourism start-ups. The findings of this study pave the way to creating an intelligent brand because in this model, using the grounded theory method, all aspects of making a brand intelligence have been considered and confirmed using SEM. Now, marketing and brand researchers have a comprehensive model of brand intelligence from an organizational point of view, which significantly helps to make the brand management process of intelligence and provides a valuable research tool for future studies. Brand Intelligence is the future of brand management, arming companies with an ongoing diagnostic tool to track and evaluate their brand performance more accurately. In this way, brand managers can first consider a standard for the essential criteria of the brand, monitor the criteria continuously, and make new decisions to take corrective measures if each criterion deviates from its standard value. Intelligence in various aspects of business, including branding, allows organizations to achieve a competitive position in today's turbulent environment

Keywords

• brand intelligence
• brand management
• grounded theory
• mixed approach
• tourism start-ups