Brand

Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one
seller's product distinct from those of other sellers.A distinguishing symbol, mark,
logo, name, word, sentence or a combination of these items that companies use to
distinguish their product from others in the market.
Initially, branding was adopted to differentiate one person's cattle from another's
by means of a distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hot iron
stamp and was subsequently used in business, marketing, and advertising. A
modern example of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola
Company.
In accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable
asset on a corporation's balance sheet. Brand owners manage their brands carefully
to create shareholder value, and brand valuation is an important management
technique that ascribes a money value to a brand, and allows marketing investment
to be managed (e.g.: prioritized across a portfolio of brands) to maximize
shareholder value. Although only acquired brands appear on a company's balance
sheet, the notion of putting a value on a brand forces marketing leaders to be
focused on long term stewardship of the brand and managing for value.

Brand Equity
Brands represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property, capable of
influencing consumer behavior, being bought and sold, and providing the security
of sustained future revenues to their owner. The value directly or indirectly
accrued by these various benefits is often called brand equity (Kapferer, 2005;
Keller, 2003). A basic premise of brand equity is that the power of a brand lies in
the minds of consumers and what they have experienced and learned about the
brand over time. Brand equity can be thought of as the "added value" endowed to
a product in the thoughts, words, and actions of consumers. There are many
different ways that this added value can be created for a brand. Similarly, there are
also many different ways the value of a brand can be manifested or exploited to
benefit the firm (i.e., in terms of greater revenue and/or lower costs). For brand
equity to provide a useful strategic function and guide marketing decisions, it is
important for marketers to fully understand the sources of brand equity, how they
affect outcomes of interest (e.g., sales), and how these sources and outcomes
change, if at all, over time. Understanding the sources and outcomes of brand
equity provides a common denominator for interpreting marketing strategies and
assessing the value of a brand: The sources of brand equity help managers
understand and focus on what drives their brand equity; the outcomes of brand
equity help managers understand exactly how and where brands add value.
Towards that goal, we review measures of both sources and outcomes of brand
equity in detail. We then present a model of value creation, the brand value chain,
as a holistic, integrated approach to understanding how to capture the value
created by brands. We also outline some issues in developing a brand equity
measurement system. We conclude by providing some summary observations.

Components Of Brand Equity
Brand Awareness- This is the fundamental component of brand equity.
Consumers have a set of brands in their heads (Bob says it usually numbers
around seven to a set), that they think of for any particular category. These sets
change constantly as new information is acquired. The aim is to have their
awareness in an unaided fashion. You want the customer to think of you when
they think of whatever your realm may be. It is also important to be known for the
right thing! This is important for those engaging in personal branding. Stick to
topics that you are knowledgable about. Know what you want to be known for and
stick to it.
Brands Perceived Quality- Customer quality perceptions extend to all aspects of
your brand through brand contacts. Brand contacts are any point where the
customer will encounter your brand. For individuals engaging in online personal
branding this may be LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Scribd, or any other
forum. Customers judge quality as a total brand experience.
Consumer Associations with the Brand- The essence of the brand is its key to
association and the basis for its positioning. Associations are key to forming
attitudes, opinions, and beliefs with customers. Associations form the basis of
brand identity and brand image, they can be both positive and negative. The
identity is the strategy of the brand. Strive for a high positioning in your
audiences set as well as positive associations. It is also important to strive for
image congruency among platforms, so keep it consistent!
Brand Loyalty- This is the big one, the most valued component of brand equity.
Loyalty is the foundation of the Lifetime Value (LTV) marketing concept. Loyal
customers increase profitability (awareness) and reduce consumer acquisition
costs

Purpose Of Brand Equity
The purpose of brand equity metrics is to measure the value of a brand. A brand
encompasses the name, logo, image, and perceptions that identify a product,
service, or provider in the minds of customers. It takes shape
in advertising, packaging, and other marketing communications, and becomes a
focus of the relationship with consumers. In time, a brand comes to embody a
promise about the goods it identifiesa promise about quality, performance, or
other dimensions of value, which can influence consumers' choices among
competing products. When consumers trust a brand and find it relevant, they may
select the offerings associated with that brand over those of competitors, even at a
premium price. When a brand's promise extends beyond a particular product, its
owner may leverage it to enter new markets. For all these reasons, a brand can hold
tremendous value, which is known as brand equity.
Brand Equity is best managed with the development of Brand Equity Goals, which
are then used to track progress and performance.






The Brand Equity Pyramid
Brand equity is based on a hierarchy of brand assets, including awareness, feelings
of
familiarity, brand image, interest in purchase and/or investment, and customer
loyalty.
Some marketers confuse brand equity with brand image, but there is an important
difference: brand equity contributes directly to the bottom line, but brand image
contributes to the bottom line only to the extent that it helps build brand equity.



Measuring Outcomes of Brand Equity
Specifically, a product with positive brand equity can
potentially enjoy the following seven important customer-related benefits:
1) Be perceived differently and produce different interpretations of product
performance;
2) Enjoy greater loyalty and be less vulnerable to competitive marketing actions;
3) Command larger margins and have more inelastic responses to price increases
and elastic responses to price decreases;
4) Receive greater trade cooperation and support;
5) Increase marketing communication effectiveness;
6) Yield licensing opportunities;
7) Support brand extensions.
These benefits, and thus the ultimate value of a brand, depends on the underlying
components of brand knowledge and sources of brand equity. Via the indirect
approach, individual components can be measured, but to provide more direct
estimates, their resulting value still must be estimated in some way. The direct
approach to measuring customer-based brand equity attempts to more explicitly
assess the impact of brand knowledge on consumer response to different aspects
of the marketing program for the firm. The direct approach is useful in
approximating the possible outcomes and benefits that arise from differential
response to marketing activity due to the brand, either individually or in aggregate





Building Brand Equity

Marketers build brand equity by creating the right brand knowledge structures
with the right consumers.
There are three main sets of brand equity drivers:

The initial choices for the brand elements or identities making up the brand
(e.g., brand names, URLs, logos, symbols, characters, spokespeople,
slogans, jingles, packages, and signage).
The product and service and all accompanying marketing activities and
supporting marketing programs.
Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some
other entity (e.g., a person, place, or thing)

Choosing Brand Elements

Brand elements are those trademarkable devices that serve to identify and
differentiate the brand.
The test of the brand-building ability of these elements is what consumers would
think or feel about the product if they only knew about the brand element.
ex: Nike
Brand element choice criteria:
Memorable
Meaningful
Likeability.
Transferable.
Adaptable
Protectible
Designing Holistic Marketing Activities
A brand contact can be defined as any information-bearing experience a customer
or prospect has with the brand, the product category, or the market that relates to
the marketer's product or service.
Activities
Personalization
Integration
Internalization

Brand Valuation
Brand equity is not same as brand valuation.
Brand valuation is estimating the total financial value of the brand.
John Stuart, co-founder of Quaker Oats, said: "I f this business were split up, I
would give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take the brands and
trade marks, and I would fare better than you."

1. Coca-cola 67,00
2. Microsoft 56,93
3. IBM 56,20
4. GE 48,91
5. Intel 38,32
6. Nokia 30,13
7. Toyota 27,94
8. Disney 27,85
9. McDonald's 27,50
10. Mercedes-Benz 22,13



Brand Reinforcement
Brand equity is reinforced by marketing actions that consistently convey the
meaning of the brand to consumers in terms of:
(1) What products the brand represents; what core benefits it supplies; and what
needs it satisfies; as well as
(2) How the brand makes those products superior and which strong, favorable, and
unique brand associations should exist in the minds of consumers.
Brand Revitalization
Changes in consumer tastes and preferences, the emergence of new competitors or
new technology, or any new development in the marketing environment could
potentially affect the fortunes of a brand.

The first thing to do in turning around the fortunes of a brand is to understand what
the sources of brand equity were to begin with.
Positive associations
Negative associations
ex: Harley Davidson
Devising a Branding Strategy
The branding strategy for a firm reflects the number and nature of common and
distinctive brand elements applied to the different products sold by the firm.
Devising a branding strategy involves deciding the nature of new and existing
brand elements to be applied to new and existing products.
When a firm introduces a new product, it has three main choices:
1. It can develop new brand elements for the new product.
2. It can apply some of its existing brand elements.
3. It can use a combination of new and existing brand elements.

When a firm uses an established brand to introduce a new product, it is called a
brand extension.
When a new brand is combined with an existing brand, the brand extension can
also be called a sub-brand
An existing brand that gives birth to a brand extension is referred to as the parent
brand.
If the parent brand is already associated with multiple products through brand
extensions, then it may also be called a family brand.
In a line extension, the parent brand is used to brand a new product that targets
a new market segment within a product category currently served by the parent
brand, such as through new flavors, forms, colors, added ingredients, and package
sizes
In a category extension, the parent brand is used to enter a different product
category from that currently served by the parent brand.
A Brand line consists of all productsoriginal as well as line and category
extensions sold under a particular brand.
A Brand mix is the set of all brand lines that a particular seller makes available to
buyers
Branded variants are specific brand lines supplied to specific retailers or
distribution channels.
A licensed product is one whose brand name has been licensed to other
manufacturers who actually make the product.




Measuring Brand Equity

The value of a brand and thus its equity is ultimately derived in the
marketplace from the words and actions of consumers. Consumers decide with
their purchases, based on whatever
factors they deem important, which brands have more equity than other brands.
Although the details of different approaches to conceptualize brand equity differ,
they tend to share a common core: All definitions typically either implicitly or
explicitly rely on brand knowledge structures in the minds of consumers
individuals or organizations as the source or foundation of brand
equity. In other words, the real power of a brand is in the thoughts, feelings,
images, beliefs, attitudes, experiences and so on that exist in the minds of
consumers. This brand knowledge
affects how consumers respond to products, prices, communications, channels and
other marketing activity increasing or decreasing brand value in the process.
Along these lines, formally, customer-based brand equity has been defined as the
differential effect that consumer brand knowledge has on their response to brand
marketing activity (Keller, 2003). Brand knowledge is not the facts about the brand
it is all the thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, and so on that
become linked to the brand in the minds of
consumers. All of these types of information can be thought of in terms of a set of
associations to the brand in consumer memory. Accordingly, brand knowledge can
be viewed in terms of an associative network memory model as a network of nodes
and links where the brand can be thought of as being a node in memory with a
variety of different types of associations potentially
linked to it (although see Janiszewski & van Osselaer, 2000). A mental map can
be a useful way to portray some of the important dimensions of brand knowledge.
very simple hypothetical mental map highlighting potential brand associations for
a consumer for the Dole brand.



Qualitative Research Techniques

There are many different ways to uncover and characterize the types of
associations linked to the brand. Qualitative research techniques are often
employed to identify possible brand associations and sources of brand equity.
Qualitative research techniques are relatively unstructured measurement
approaches whereby a range of possible consumer responses are permitted.
Because of the freedom afforded both researchers in their probes and consumers in
their responses, qualitative research can often be a useful "first step" in exploring
consumer brand and product perceptions. Consider the following three qualitative
research techniques that can be employed to identify sources of brand equity.
Free Association
The simplest and often most powerful way to profile brand associations involves
free association tasks whereby subjects are asked what comes to mind when they
think of the brand without any more specific probe or cue than perhaps the
associated product category (e.g., "What
does the Rolex name mean to you?" or "Tell me what comes to mind when you
think of Rolex watches."). Answers to these questions help marketers to clarify the
range of possible associations and assemble a brand profile (Boivin, 1986).
To better understand the positivity of brand associations, consumers can be asked
followup questions as to the favorability of associations they listed or, more
generally, what they like
best about the brand. Similarly, consumers can also be asked direct follow-up
questions as to the uniqueness of associations they listed or, more generally, what
they find unique about the brand.

Thus, additionally useful questions include:
1) What do you like best about the brand? What are its positive aspects? What do
you dislike? What are its disadvantages?
2) What do you find unique about the brand? How is it different from other
brands?
In what ways is it the same?
These simple, direct measures can be extremely valuable at determining core
aspects of a
brand image. To provide more structure and guidance, consumers can be asked
further followup
questions to describe what the brand means to them in terms of "who, what, when,
where,
why, and how" type of questions such as:
1) Who uses the brand? What kind of person?
2) When and where do they use the brand? What types of situations?
3) Why do people use the brand? What do they get out of using it?
4) How do they use the brand? What do they use it for?

Projective Techniques
Uncovering the sources of brand equity requires that consumers' brand knowledge
structures be profiled as accurately and completely as possible. Unfortunately,
under certain situations, consumers may feel that it would be socially unacceptable
or undesirable to express their true feelings. As a result, they may find it easier to
fall back on stereotypical, "pat" answers
that they believe would be acceptable or perhaps even expected by the interviewer.
For example, it may be difficult for consumers to admit that a certain brand name
product has prestige and enhances their self-image. As a result, consumers may
instead refer to some particular product feature as the reason why they like or
dislike the brand. Alternatively, it may just be that consumers find it difficult to
identify and express their true feelings when asked directly even if they attempt to
do so. For either of these reasons, an accurate portrayal of brand knowledge
structures may be impossible without some rather unconventional research
methods. Projective techniques are diagnostic tools to uncover the true opinions
and feelings of consumers when they are unwilling or otherwise unable to express
themselves on these matters.
The idea behind projective techniques is that consumers are presented with an
incomplete stimulus and asked to complete it or given an ambiguous stimulus that
may not make sense in
and of itself and are asked to make sense of it. In doing so, the argument is that
consumers will reveal some of their true beliefs and feelings. Thus, projective
techniques can be especially
useful when deeply rooted personal motivations or personally or socially sensitive
subject matters may be operating. Projective techniques often provide useful
insights that help to assemble a more complete picture of consumers and their
relationships with brands. All kinds of
projective techniques are possible. Here we highlight two

1.Completion & interpretation tasks. Classic projective techniques use
incomplete or ambiguous stimuli to elicit consumer thoughts and feelings. One
such approach is with "bubble exercises" based on cartoons or photos where
different people are
depicted buying or using certain products, services, or brands. Empty bubbles, as
found in cartoons, are placed in the scenes to represent the thoughts, words, or
actions of one or more of the participants in the scene. Consumers are then asked
to figuratively "fill in the bubble" by indicating what they believed was happening
or being said in the scene. The stories and conversations told through bubble
exercises and picture interpretations can be especially useful to assess user and
usage imagery for a brand.

2. Comparison tasks. Another technique that may be useful when consumers
are not able to directly express their perceptions of brands is comparison tasks
where consumers are asked to convey their impressions by comparing brands to
people, countries, animals, activities, fabrics, occupations, cars, magazines,
vegetables, nationalities, or even other brands. For example, consumers might be
asked: "If Nikewere a car, which one would it be? If it were an animal, which one
might it be?Looking at the people depicted in these pictures, which ones do you
think would be most likely to wear Nike shoes?" In each case, consumers could be
asked a follow-up question as to why they made the comparison they did. The
objects chosen to represent the brand and the reasons why they were chosen can
provide a glimpse into the psyche of the consumer with respect to a brand.


Ethnographic and Observational Approaches
Fresh data can be gathered by directly observing relevant actors and settings (e.g.,
Coupland, 2005; Ritson & Elliott, 1999; Thompson et al., 1994). Consumers can
be unobtrusively observed as they shop or as they consume products to capture
every nuance of their behavior. Marketers such as Procter & Gamble seek
consumers permission to spend time
with them in their homes to see how they actually use and experience products


















Customer-based brand equity
We have experienced from the previous literature review that brand equity can be
approached from the perspective of the individual consumer. The basic premise
with customer-based brand equity is that the power of a brand lies in the minds of
consumers and what they have experienced and learned about the brand over time.
The advantage of conceptualising brand equity from the consumers perspective is
that it enables managers to consider specifically how their marketing program
improves the value of their brands. Though the eventual goal of many marketing
programs is to increase sales, it is first necessary to establish knowledge structures
for the brand so that consumers respond favourably to marketing activity for the
brand.
Customer-based brand equity can be defined as the differential effect that brand
knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. There are
three key ingredients to this definition: 1) differential effect, 2) brand
knowledge, and 3) consumer response to marketing. First, brand equity arises
from differences in consumer response. If no differences occur, then the brand can
essentially be classified as a commodity or generic version the product. Second,
these differences in response are a result of consumers knowledge
about the brand. Thus, although strongly influenced by the marketing activity of
the firm, brand equity ultimately depends on what resides in the minds of
consumers. Third, the differential
response by consumers that makes up the brand equity is reflected in perceptions,
preferences, and behaviour related to all aspects of the marketing of a
brand.Conceptualising brand equity from the consumers perspective is useful
because it suggests both specific guidelines for marketing strategies and tactics and
areas where research can be useful in assisting managerial decision making. Two
important points emerge from this conceptualisation. First, marketers should take a
broad view of marketing activity for a brand and recognise the various effects it
has on brand knowledge, as well as how changes in brand knowledge affect more
traditional outcome measures such as sales. Second, markets must realise
that the long-term success of all future marketing programs for a brand is greatly
affected by the knowledge about the brand in memory that has been established by
the firms short termmarketing efforts. In short, because the content and structure
of memory for the brand will influence the effectiveness of future brand strategies,
it is critical that managers understand how their marketing programs affect
consumer learning and thus subsequent recall for brand-related information.A
brand is said to have positive (negative) customer-based brand equity when
consumers react more (less) favourably to a product and the way it is marketed
when the brand is identified as compared to when it is not. Thus, a brand with
positive customer-based brand equity might result in consumers being more
accepting of a new brand extension, less sensitive to price increases and
withdrawal of advertising support, or more willing to seek the brand in a
new distribution channel. Customer-based brand equity occurs when the consumer
is familiar with the brand and holds some positive brand associations in memory.
response, in turn, can lead to enhanced revenues, lower costs, and greater profits
for the firm. Brand knowledge is the key issue in creating customer-based brand
equity. Brand knowledge can be conceptualised as consisting of a brand node in
memory with a variety of brand
associations. Brand knowledge is a composed of 1) brand awareness, which relates
to consumers ability to recognise or recall the brand and 2) brand image, which
consists of consumers perceptions of and associations for the brand. Building
brand awareness requires repeatedly exposing consumers to the brand as well as
linking the brand in consumer memory to its product category and to purchase,
usage and consumption situations. Creating a positive brand
image requires establishing strong, favourable and unique associations for the
brand.
Brand awareness can be characterised according to depth and breadth. The depth
of brand awareness concerns the likelihood that the brand can be recognised or
recalled and the breadth of brand awareness relates to the variety of purchase and
consumption situations in which the brand comes to mind. Brand image is defined
as consumer perceptions of a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in
consumers memory. Brand associations are informational nodes linked to
the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for consumers.
Brand associations come in many different types, which include e.g., product-
related and non-productrelated attributes, functional, symbolic or experiential
benefits and attitudes. For customerbased brand equity to occur, some of these
brand associations must be strong, favourable, and unique. Strong associations are
likely to result with information deemed relevant and presented consistently over
time. Favourable brand associations occur when consumers believe that the brand
possesses attributes and benefits that satisfy their needs and wants. In terms of
uniqueness brand associations may or may not be shared with other competing
brands. The strength, favourability, and uniqueness of brand associations play an
important role in determining the differential response that makes up customer-
based brand equity, especially in high involvement decision settings where
consumer motivation and ability are sufficiently present. Brand image is the sum
of impressions that affect how we perceive a brand, including elements that
identify or distinguish the brand from others, the personality the brand acquires,
and the benefits it promises. Brand image is largely a subjective and perceptual
phenomenon that is formed through consumer interpretation, whether reasoned or
emotional. When brand images are strong, they can be used to enhance a persons
self-image. Six general guidelines for managing customer-based brand equity
emphasise the importance of taking a broad view of marketing a brand; specifying
the desired consumer knowledge structures and core benefits of a brand;
considering a wide range of traditional and non-traditional marketing
communication options; co-ordinating and taking a long- term view of the
marketing decisions to be taken; conducting tracking studies; and evaluating
potential extension candidates First, a marketer should adopt a broad view of
marketing decisions. Marketing activity for a brand can create value for the brand
by potentially improving consumers ability to recall or
recognise the brand and/or by creating, maintaining, or changing the strength,
favourability, or uniqueness of various types of brand associations.
Second, marketers should define the knowledge structures that they would like to
create in the minds of consumers by specifying desired levels of awareness and
strength, favourability, and uniqueness of product and non-product-related
attributes, and functional, experiential, and symbolic benefits. In particular,
marketers should decide on the core needs and wants of consumers to be satisfied
by the brand. Marketers should also decide the extent to which it is
necessary to leverage secondary associations for the brand by linking the brand to
the company, product class, particular person, place, or event in such a way that
associations with those entities become indirect associations for the brand.
Third, marketers should evaluate the increasingly large number of tactical options
available, especially in terms of various marketing communication alternatives.
The entire marketing program should be co-ordinated to create congruent and
strong brand associations. Different tactics with the same strategic goals, if
effectively integrated, can create multiple links to core benefits or other key
associations, helping to produce a consistent and cohesive brand image.
Fourth, marketers should take a long-term view of marketing decisions. The
changes in consumer knowledge about the brand on the basis of current marketing
activities will also have an indirect effect on the success of future marketing
activities. It is important to consider how resulting changes in brand awareness
may help or hurt subsequent marketing decisions.
Fifth, marketers should evaluate potential extension candidates for their viability
and possible feedback effects on core brand image. Brand extensions capitalise on
the brand image for the core product or service to efficiently inform consumers and
retailers about the new product or service. Finally, marketers should employ
tracking studies to measure consumer knowledge structures
over time to detect any changes in the different dimensions of brand knowledge
and to suggest how these changes might be related to the effectiveness of different
marketing actions.
Leveraging brand equity
There are three ways to leverage brand equity: firstly building it, secondly borrowing it,
or thirdly buying it. Increasingly, building brand equity is not easy given the
proliferation of brands and the intense competition that is prevalent in many industries.
Within a given industry, there typically exist many high quality products and high levels
of advertising, making it difficult introduce superior quality brand and shape perceptions
through advertising. Thus, the alternative to building brand equity is by borrowing or
buying it