엠블럼을 통한 브랜드 인지가 디자인 선호에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구

Abstract

In Korea, demands for Korean brand automobiles have been high. But with the coming of the era of mega competition due to free trade agreements between countries, imported cars are gaining popularity. Against this background, it is necessary to examine ways for Korean automobiles to acquire competitiveness in the global market. This study examines the emblem of automobile, which is an essential element to improve the brand value, the awareness of automobile shapes, and design preferences. Survey questions are composed of brand awareness and design preference, and the questions about brand awareness are to know automobiles brand or the name of automobiles model. The survey about brand preference was conducted in three step; closed emblem, opened emblem and mistaken emblem. When people were asked to identify an automobile without showing its emblem, BMW showed high level of recognition in the image of automobile and partial image. In other words, people could recognize the shape of BMW without looking at its emblem. This means that the identity of BMW is clearly imprinted in people's mind from the shape aspect and the shape expresses design characteristics of the brand well. And the highest percentage of surveyed preferred the design of K7 whether the emblem was shown or not. In the case of hiding emblem, Grandeur and SM7 were next most preferred automobiles. When the brand emblems were shown, the levels of preference for Infiniti G25 and BMW 5 series increased. Automobile brand identity is an asset that can create values for its manufacturer and thus differentiated design should be used so that an automobile can be recognized without looking at its emblem. Automobile manufacturers should work on the improvement and management of brand power by improving brand awareness, image, and reliability.