Abstract:
This study on the effects of product brand identity on consumers’ purchase decision of The Federal University of Technology Akure’s investments, was carried out in The Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. The research sought to address the need for branding and advertisement of the selected investment products (FUTA Bread, FUTA Water, FUTA Farm Products and FUTA Zoological Gardens), through proper media channels and packaging, in an attempt to build a strong brand identity and brand image that would affect positively, consumers’ decisions on patronage of the products. The methodology employed for this research, involved the distribution of questionnaires in order to identify FUTA’s investment products that require branding; investigate the extent of awareness and advertisement for FUTA investment products; determine the consumer’s perception of brand identity on FUTA’s investment products; and examine the effect of product brand identity of FUTA’s investment products on consumer purchase decision. The population of the study was unspecified, as not all of the population of FUTA consume these products, hence the need for purposively selecting 156 respondents with representatives from each of the six (6) schools within FUTA. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to determine the expected results for the study. However, the research investigated the extent of awareness and advertisement for FUTA investment products and discovered that branding was considered necessary for product awareness as the results revealed low values of 0.477 and 0.403 for advertisements and brand identity, respectively.The result revealed that FUTA investment products current brand identity does not influence the purchasing decision of majority of the respondents as it showed a very low value of 0.372. FUTA investment products require more attention in order to reach the required target market in the largely competitive market. The study therefore recommended that, there should be improved standardization of services (quality control), customized services (brand identity strategy), reliability (availability) and effective management by the managers of the FUTA Brand products.
