Product Branding: Impact of Fast-food Restaurant Brand Ambassadors to Consumers’ Behavior

A Business Research Proposal

In Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirement in

ACC 116 (Accounting Research Method)

Prepared to

The faculty, College of Management and Accountancy

PHINMA- University of Iloilo

By

Greg Arnold F. Jacobe

Bon Robert B. Jalbuna

Paul Ernest Mc Ary

Student: BSA 3 A1-02

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 I. INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

Statement of the Problem ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Objectives of the Study -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Hypotheses ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Theoretical Framework ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9

Conceptual framework ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

II. METHODOLOGY

Review of Related Literature ---------------------------------------------------------------- 16

Area or Locale of the Study ------------------------------------------------------------------ 19

Research Approach and Design ------------------------------------------------------------ 19

Population and Sample ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20

Methods of Data Collection ------------------------------------------------------------------ 20

Statistical Tool for Data Analysis and Interpretation ------------------------------------- 20

REFERENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY------------------------------------------------------------------ 21
 I. INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

According to Cambridge Dictionary, Branding is “the act of giving a company a particular design
or symbol in order to advertise its products and services.” The importance of branding has been
recognized in the business world for quite some time now, and it has been acknowledged that branding
takes a big part in generating profits to sustain an entity in its operations. Branding does not just limit to
an entity’s visual identity and anesthetics such as logo, product’s packaging and design, it extends to the
entity’s social responsibility, reputation, work ethics, customer service and advertising. According to
Dandu (2015), “Branding is absolutely critical to a business because of the overall impact it makes on
your company. Branding can change how people perceive your brand, it can drive new business, and
increase brand value – but it can also do the opposite if done wrongly or not at all.” He also emphasized
that branding is not just an expensive marketing tactic that only big brands use, thus, has a lot to do with
common sense and is heavily influenced by the market you’re in and the level you want to play at. It is
also important for an entity to have a well-established brand because this gives the company more
leverage to the industry that will increase the entity’s value in the long run. On De Bara (2019)’s blog,
she defined branding as “what your business needs to break through the clutter and grab your ideal
customer’s attention. It’s what transforms first-time buyers into lifetime customers and turns an
indifferent audience into brand evangelists. It’s what you need to stand out, make an impact and take
your business to the next level.” She furthermore highlighted that the following are the advantages or
importance of having a well-established brand: (a) it helps you stand out from the competition; (b) it
builds brand recognition; (c) it creates a consistent brand experience for your customers.; and (d) it
sparks a connection with your audience and turns that audience into loyal customers.

One strategy to establish a strong branding is to look for brand ambassadors. Oxford Languages
defines brand ambassador as “a person, especially a celebrity, who is paid to endorse or promote a
particular company’s products or services.”. Entities hire people who they think can be influential and
suitable to their set objectives to promote their brand. This is why brand ambassadors are usually
celebrity personalities since they already have a platform and an established network to whom they can
market the brand. Ideally, brand ambassadors are labeled as the ‘face of the brand’, by which they
become the representatives of the company during particular events. Sonntag (2018) of Repsly Blogs
described a brand ambassador as “someone who should be an enthusiastic and outgoing individual with
a considerable social media presence and a medium to large sized network. He or she presumably is
already familiar with and endorses the brand being represented.”. Smarp Blogs (2020) enumerated two
main reasons why companies should have brand ambassadors— First, entities will earn more trust and
brand awareness. Consumers tend to find information about the brand more reliable when It’s not
directly from the entity who owns the brand, but rather from someone with great influence. According
to Nielsen, 92% of consumers from various markets are more inclined to believe people who are in their
circles than direct messaging from a brand, and only a third of consumers say they trust traditional ads.
And secondly, brand ambassadors are more cost-effective than traditional advertising. A study from
‘Sprout Social’ shows that almost 75% of consumers decide what to buy based on social media posts,
but 96% of the people that discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles. Hence,
consumers don’t have as much trust for social media that comes directly from brands’ profiles—instead,
they’re turning to posts and reviews from individuals.

When an entity establishes a well-constructed branding, this may lead to a better approach of
consumers toward your brand, and that will generate profit to increase the value of the entity.
According to invespcro.com, 72% of customers trust a business more after it has been recommended by
an influencer. This is a big deal for brands as they look to partner with ambassadors who will be their
path to consumers and help build brand recognition. Since our lives have changed through the years due
to the continuous development of technology, consumer behavior in response to advertisements also
evolved through the years. As previously stated, consumers tend to find information from brand
advertisements itself less credible than the information coming from persons who they think give
credible reviews about the brands products. Consumers are now less responsive to mainstream
advertisements especially in today’s setting. Consumers grow a feeling of distrust from mainstream
advertisements, therefore, brand ambassadors are becoming more relevant to create greater value to a
brand. A brand ambassador is seen as an effective way to provide a credible testimony of the entity and
through the word-of-mouth effect can influence others through their networks and relationships.
Consumers often become attached to brands which enable them to create or represent their desired
self-concepts, often as portrayed by brand ambassadors who ‘walk the walk’ and ‘talk the talk’.
Consumers make self-brand connections as they discover the fit between their self-concepts and brand
images (Kemp et al,. 2012:509).

The researchers, through a thorough study, will analyze the impact of Brand Ambassadors of
fast-food restaurants available in Iloilo City to consumers’ decisions on whether to buy or not to buy the
entity’s products, as well as to understand the perspective of consumers, more specifically, what traits
of a brand ambassador mostly affect or influence them in their decision on whether to buy or not to buy
the entity’s products, and lastly the effects of brand ambassadors being celebrities on consumers’
loyalty towards the brand. The researchers have chosen this study for the reason of, it has been
observed by the researchers that the mainstream advertising is slowly getting overshadowed by brand
promotions through various ‘influencers’, specially that now, this generation has been prevalently
dominated by technology and social media. The researchers would like to find out if such changes have
drastic effects on how consumers behave in response to this modern marketing approach.

Statement of the Problem

To find out the impacts of Brand Ambassador to consumer buying behavior, this study aims to answer
the following problems:

1. Using Consumer Behavior Theory, what factors affect consumers’ decisions on whether to buy
or not to buy from fast food restaurants in Iloilo City in response to Brand Ambassadors?

2. Using Schema Theory, what type of schema mostly affects or influences the consumers in their
decision on whether to buy or not to buy from fast food restaurants in Iloilo City?
 3. What are the effects of brand ambassadors being celebrities on consumers’ loyalty towards the
fast food restaurants in Iloilo City?

Objectives of the Study

The above mentioned Statement of the Problem extracts the purpose of the research study. This study
generally aims to establish the factors that affect the consumers’ decision on whether to buy or not to
buy from fast food restaurants in Iloilo City in response to brand ambassadors with the help of
Consumer Behavior Theory. To be more specific, this study aims to understand the perspective of
consumers, particularly on what type of Schema mostly affects or influences the decisions of consumers
on whether to buy or not to buy from fast food chains in Iloilo City that brand ambassadors
represent/endorse. Moreover, this study also aims to find out the effects of brand ambassadors being
celebrities on consumers’ brand loyalty. .

The result of this study may provide in-depth understanding of the relationship between brand
ambassadors and consumers, and the effects to the latter’s buying behavior.

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis:

Brand ambassadors have significant effects on the decision of consumers on

Whether to buy or not to buy foods from the fast food restaurants that they are

Endorsing.
Theoretical Framework

Consumer Behavior Theory

Gray (2019) defines Consumer Behavior Theory as “the study of how people make decisions
when they purchase, helping businesses and marketers capitalize on these behaviors by predicting how
and when a consumer will make a purchase. It helps to identify what influences these decisions, as well
as highlight strategies to proactively manipulate behavior” Accordingly, There are a few factors that
influence consumer behavior, these are: (1) Psychological, (2) Personal, and (3) Social.

Psychological factors include a person’s attitude, perceptions about a situation, their ability to
understand information, what motivates them, their personality and beliefs. In response to a brand’s
Brand ambassador, consumers base their decision on whether to buy the brand’s food product when
the brand ambassador psychologically satisfies them. In order for the brand ambassador to
psychologically satisfy the consumers, they must be able to have great communication skills in
disseminating information about the brand they are representing, and be able to persuade the
consumers to purchase their products.

Personal factors include age, gender, financial situation, occupation, background, culture and
location. Some consumers base their decisions—on whether to buy the brand’s products on not— on
the brand ambassador’s status quo. Some brand ambassadors represent brands that consumers think
are not “age-appropriate” with them. This factor also encompasses the brand ambassadors network.
Most brand ambassadors are usually celebrities, since their work requires them to have wider platforms
and exposure to the public. Such a factor is a great contributor to the consumer’s decision-making.
 Lastly, Social influences can include a person’s friends, family, community, work or school
community, or groups they associate with such as a local church or hobby group. It can also include
social class, living conditions and education. This factor is somewhat similar to the previous one, though
this one particularly focuses on their networks per se. Brand ambassadors with a lot of affiliations to
certain organizations tend to be more effective representatives of brands. Consumers respond to brand
ambassadors due to social influence.

The said three factors under Consumer Behavior Theory will help the researchers analyze the
consumer behavior in response to brand ambassadors.

Schema Theory

According to Cherry and Gans (2019), A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps
organize and interpret information. Schemas can be useful because they allow us to take shortcuts in
interpreting the vast amount of information that is available in our environment. Schemas, in general,
are basically a person’s pre-existing knowledge about a particular thing and is a result of one’s
development of knowledge. For example, a young child may first develop a schema for a horse. She
knows that a horse is large, has hair, four legs, and a tail. Schemas may become a part of someone.
When the little girl encounters a cow for the first time, she might initially call it a horse. Schemas may
take part in one’s stereotype towards things. Schemas, in relation to this study, provides different
factors that affect consumers’ behavior in response to brand ambassadors, more specifically, based on
the four types of SCHEMAS, according to Jean Piaget. Schemas can be Personal Schemas, Social
Schemas, Self Schemas, and Event Schemas.

Personal Schemas mainly focus on particular individuals. This includes someone’s appearance, behavior,
personality, preferences and certain information about them. Personal Schemas, in relation to
consumers’ perspective towards brand ambassadors, affect their behavior in purchasing a certain food
product. For example, Comedian and one of the most influential celebrities in the Philippines, Vice
Ganda became the brand ambassador/endorser of CDO Young Pork Tocino here in the Philippines.
People’s personal Schemas take part in consumers’ decision on whether to buy or not to buy the
product Vice Ganda is endorsing, since Vice Ganda has been influential to Filipino consumers because of
wit and humor, they would most likely buy the product.
Social Schemas focus mainly on general knowledge about how people behave in certain social situations.
For example, the infamous YouTube content creator, Andrew Luis Lapid, or commonly known as Buknoy
Glamurrr, once “job-shamed” a tricycle driver, saying foul, offensive, and insensitive remarks about
tricycle drivers. Accordingly, people who won’t work hard for their dreams will end up like those tricycle
drivers, which is, in fact, a direct insult to these workers who just wanted to provide for their family. As a
result of his actions, he has lost a lot of YouTube subscribers, brand deals and endorsements. One of the
brands, a spa clinic, dropped Buknoy Glamurrr as a brand ambassador due to the customers’ displease
regarding the infamous video that went viral.

Self-Schemas, on the other hand, mainly focus on knowledge about one’s self. This can include both
what you know about your current self, as well as ideas about your idealized or future self. In relation to
consumer behavior, consumers base their decisions on whether to buy a certain food product solely on
their personal preferences. For example, a person will not purchase a particular food product merely
because his personal beliefs do not coincide with the brand ambassador of the said food product.

Lastly, Event Schemas are focused on patterns of behavior that should be followed for certain events.
This acts much like a script informing you of what you should do, how you should act, and what you
should say in a particular situation (Baldwin, 1992). In relation to consumer behavior, let’s say that it has
been your family’s tradition to only buy a particular brand of chicken for the past 15 years. Event
Schema takes place on consumers behavior to only buy a certain brand of food product merely out of
tradition.

The said four types of Schemas based on Schema Theory by Jean Piaget will be used by the researchers
to support this study’s second problem in determining the reason behind consumers’ buying behavior in
response to brand ambassadors.

Source Credibility Theory

According to Hovland, Janis and Kelley (1963), the Source Credibility theory states that people are more
likely to be persuaded when the source presents itself as credible. Furthermore, Hovland (1963) and
Weiss (1974) later studied the influence of sources in persuasion. The study was done by comparing
credible and non-credible sources using the same persuasive message to test if the sources seen as
credible could influence opinions change in the message receivers more than the non-credible source.
The study confirmed the assumption that credible sources tend to create the desired impact on the
audience. Business brands collaborate with celebrities to increase their entity’s value by making
celebrities as their representatives in promoting their products.
Celebrities hold a certain influence that people seem to find them credible. Use of celebrity is
understandable as many consumers readily identify with these stars, often regarding them as heroes
and heroines for their accomplishments, personalities, and physical appeal. (Shimp, 2000: p. 332). The
fondness of using celebrities is because of their famous attributes-including courage, talent, athleticism,
grace, power and sex appeal. These often represent the attractions desired for the brand they endorse.
By association, consumers often prefer those brands owing to the conception that it helps in shaping
that celebrity; helps in de- fining his/her style. In the words of Shimp (2000), source credibility in
advertising is also influenced by source attractiveness. The more attractive a celebrity looks, the more
likely consumers are to buy whatever he/she is selling. In other words, the level of appeal to the eyes
influences the impact on buying behaviors, brand preferences and attitudinal changes.

The researchers, through the help of this theory will evaluate the possible effects of celebrities as brand
ambassadors in relation to the decisions of consumers on whether to buy or not to buy a particular food
product.

Conceptual Framework

This figure shows the relationships between the dependent and independent variables, also
taking into consideration the moderator, mediating, and control variables. The independent variable in
this study are the brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors are seen to be the leading reason that affect
the buying behavior of consumers- which is the dependent variable. Moderating variables, also known
as moderators, alter the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. In the figure
shown above, the moderating variable is the consumer loyalty to a certain brand. This will either
strengthen or weaken the effect of brand ambassadors to consumer behavior. The next variable is the
mediating variable, that links the dependent and independent variables, allowing them to be explained
better. The number of people satisfied with the brand that the brand ambassador is promoting is the
mediating variable. This will further push the consumers to buy that product. The last variable in the
figure is the control variable. This variable has nothing to do with the effects of brand ambassadors but
could affect the buying behavior of consumers.Allergies o n certain food have nothing to do with brand
ambassadors but could greatly affect the consumer behavior.
 II. METHODOLOGY

According to Kothari(2004) research methodology is a method to analytically explain research problems.

Review Of Related Literature

Brand Ambassador
The term Brand Ambassador is defined as the attested supporters and users of the brand that are
employed by the company to provide information about the product, service, creating a wall-to-wall
word of mouth marketing ( Cheyfiz,2010; Belch & Belch 2007). According to Geenwood(2012:78) and
Royan(2004:8), Suharyono and Abadilla(2014), Brand Ambassador was an effective way for marketing
either locally and globally. Brand Ambassador will connect to the emotions of the consumers and the
company , and in turn build the image of the product that would affect the purchase decision and usage
of the product. The Brand Ambassador will market the product by explaining the qualities and why
consumers should buy the product. Since the product was endorsed by their favourite personality, the
consumer perceived it as more powerful than others.

Anyone could be a Brand Ambassador but Lea-Greenwood(2012) in Putra, Suharyono and

1. Transference is when a celebrity supports the product that is connected to their profession.

2. Congruence- an ambassador is suited to advertise the product.

3. Credibility- is when ambassadors have a strong knowledge and expertise about the product
that the consumer perceived as reliable information.

Brand Image

In order to stand-out in business industry, companies work their way to establish an impactful brand
image. Since the 20th century, brand image has been studied widely because of its significance in
building a company’s name. Due to continuous advancement of marketing competitiveness, company’s
need to dig into deeper behavior of its consumers and make them remember their brand every time
they will think of a certain product in order to develop effective and efficient marketing strategy. The
relationship between the consumers cognition of brand image and consumer behavior will be discussed
in the following paragraph.

In 1993 Keller came up with the concept “customer-based brand equity (CBBE)”, which refers to the
different reactions to the branding campaign from consumers who already know the brand. Brand
image and brand awareness will be the basis of brand equity. Brand equity is one of the most important
assets of the company that has significant value, psychologically and financially. This value may show
how consumers may think, feel and act to reflect the brand. According to Keller(2006), brand image is
the way consumers feel a brand. Because of this, the brand awareness and brand knowledge should be
established before the consumers could respond to the branding campaign. For marketers, examining
the consistency between the brand image and consumers’ self-concept is very important, because
consumers might display various self-conceptions in different social concepts in different social
contexts. But whatever the context is, consumers would think better of the brand as long as the brand
image is in line with themselves.

Consumer Behavior

According to Belch & Belch(2007) one of the most common consumer behaviors in the market is the
consumer purchasing decision. Consumer behavior can be defined as the process and activities
consumers engage in when finding, selecting and purchasing of the product. In terms of products and
services, purchase decisions are the result of keen and extensive information searching, brand
comparison, evaluation and analysing ratings. Every businessman’s success in making consumers behave
in his favour depends on how well and through they understand consumer behavior. They need to know
what their customers need and what they want in a product to conclude to buy that certain brand.
According to Peter & Donell(2007), this figure shows how consumers make decisions to purchase
different products.

Any decision starts by recognizing the needs of the consumers.It often occurs when a consumer
feels like something is missing,that there are differences in what they see as an ideal one than the actual
(Blackwell, et al, 2007.The rest is searching for alternatives. After recognizing consumers’ needs, they
need to find all alternatives in order to pick which suits their current situation effectively and efficiently.
The third step is evaluating each alternative, then picking one to go to. Next is purchasing the chosen
alternative and lastly, evaluating the purchased brand whether they made the decision, also they can
help other consumers by giving ratings and a quick evaluation of that certain brand.

Area or Locale of the Study

This study is conducted in Iloilo City. It will be focused on the different fast food restaurants consumers
in the City. The city is made up of seven districts comprising Arevalo, Molo, Mandurriao, City Proper,
Lapaz, Jaro and Lapuz. The research will conduct surveys randomly in different areas in the Cit y.
Research Approach and Design

According to Creswell (2014),Research design is the overall plan for connecting the conceptual research
problems to the pertinent and achievable empirical research. It is an inquiry which provides specific
direction for procedures in research.

The nature of the research design is correlational. According to Creswell, correlational research designs
are used by investigators to describe and measure the degree of relationship between two or more
variables or sets of scores. A procedure in which subjects’ scores on two variables are simply measured,
without manipulation of any variables to determine whether there is a relationship. The main focus of
this study is to describe the relationship between fast food brand ambassador and consumer buying
behavior.

Population and Sample

The population of the research is composed of the consumers of different fast food restaurants
in Iloilo City (e.g.. but not limited to, Jollibee, McDonalds, KFC,and Greenwich, and Chowking). The
target population of this study are consumers around Iloilo City. From the unknown population of
consumers of fast food restaurants in Iloilo City, a random sample will be used to represent the
population.

Methods of Data Collection

The researchers will be observing proper health protocols while gathering data. The researchers will be
conducting a survey through a self administered questionnaire that will be answered through google
forms. A descriptive survey will be selected because it will provide an accurate portrayal of consumer’s
behavior in selecting fast food restaurants.
Statistical Tools for Data Analysis and Interpretation

The researchers will be using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) in analyzing and
interpreting gathered data. Due to slightly large samples, SPSS will be the most efficient tool to be used.

REFERENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY

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business/

Deanna deBara (2019), What is Branding?

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Melissa Sonntag (2018), Brand Ambassador: Definition, Job Description, Salary and More

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salary

Smarp Blogs (2020), Who are brand ambassadors and why every organization needs
Them?

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Matthias Roderstein (2005), Celebrity Endorsements: Theoretical Explanations of

Meaning and Transfer- and Schema-based Models- Recent Developments

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Kendra Cherry and Steven Gans (2019), The Role of a Schema in Psychology

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Ryan Gray (2019), Consumer Behavior Theory: How Has It Changed

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Shuaa Aljasir (2019), Are Classical Theories of Celebrity Endorsements Applicable to

New Media?

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Bonachristus Umeogu (2012), Source Credibility: A Philosophical Analysis

Felicia Wang and Evo Hariandja (2016), The Influence of Brand Ambassador on Brand

Image and Consumer Purchasing Decision

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