Abstract:

Domestic scholars suggested the term of cluster brand, its definition varies largely. This article tried to give a universally acceptable definition. The article pointed out that a brand has two elements: brand symbol, and its associations and meanings which are the essence of a brand. The authors argued that a cluster brand existence needs two necessary conditions: a cluster existing and recognized, the cluster named, but they are not sufficient. Only the cluster name is memorized in targeting customers’ minds and the associations are established and can be activated, then the cluster brand really exists. Due to the cluster and cluster brand are named always in the same combination word form of “geographical name + industry name”, this article made a detail analyzing about the multiple meanings of the combination name, tried to distinguish the same word form’s different meanings, then the article defined the concept of cluster brand. Using free association method, taking "Hangzhou women's dress" as tested cluster brand, and "Wenzhou women dress" as a reference, the results showed “Hangzhou women dress” has rich associations and is full of meanings, and the associations of “Wenzhou women dress” are less and meaningless, which is indirectly verified the definition of cluster brand of this paper.