The role of affective factors on brand resonance: Measuring customer‐based brand equity for the Sarajevo brand

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of affective factors on brand resonance in the context of a destination brand. Keller's brand resonance model (Keller, 2013) was used to identify the role of affective factors in the brand equity chain. The research was conducted on the 'Sarajevo' brand, with an expectation that affective factors would be more influential on brand resonance than cognitive factors. Sarajevo is remembered as the center of the war that resulted in the collapse of the Republic of Yugoslavia in 1990s and emotions towards the suffering of civilians under siege are still dominant. The research hypothesis was tested with data from 286 Turkish visitors. A Turkish sample was chosen to test the hypothesis due to the fact that Turkish and Bosnian populations have strong historical ties with each other and Sarajevo represents an emotionally strong destination for Turkish population. Results from multiple regression analysis indicate that the central hypothesis is valid and tourist resonance perceptions on Sarajevo brand are stronger on the affective route than cognitive route. Model constructs were also analyzed descriptively with data from a second sample of visitors from more than 45 countries (N = 193), where it was found that city's affective image was evaluated more strongly than its cognitive image. These findings together are used to propose strategies for Sarajevo marketers, out of which using the emotional aspects of the city in destination marketing seems to be the most influential.