Abstract:

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to examine to what extent a food product with a region of origin label, considered as a specific sensory brand, affects consumer preferences in comparison with an official quality label such as PDO  or PGI  labels.

Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, we first propose a literature review on experiential view to branding and region of origin labeling strategies. A research methodology based on a qualitative survey (focus group), a questionnaire is described. Data analysis is established by means of three statistical methods: Exploratory factor analysis, Descriptive frequency data analysis and Discriminant analysis.

Findings – From qualitative and quantitative data analyses we conclude that food products with regional reference could affect consumer preferences with a larger extent than food products protected by official labels. Emotional experience has been found to affect the group involving those who prefer regional food products more considerably than the other factors.

Originality/value – Our findings are relevant for both companies already being engaged on a labeling strategy through official labels and firms searching for giving experiential values to their brands. For the first case, companies that have failed to convince its customers about the added value of their labelled food products could positively influence their preferences through undertaking a communication strategy based mostly on experiential values (emotional and sensory) than functional ones. For the second case, firms who suffer from a decline of their brand image could enhance their notoriety by adopting a new approach to branding consisting on positioning their products by choosing the regional reference associated with their brand name. The use of a well-known region of origin may be a more efficient device for differentiating products than the development, introduction and positioning of a brand name, based on a set of associations.