BrandBrand 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.

Brand’s 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 audience’s 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 EquityThe 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 identifies—a 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 PyramidBrand 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 EquitySpecifically, 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 ValuationBrand 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: "If 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 67,002. Microsoft 56,933. IBM 56,204. GE 48,915. Intel 38,326. Nokia 30,137. Toyota 27,948. Disney 27,859. McDonald's 27,5010. 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 RevitalizationChanges 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 StrategyThe 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 products—original 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 buyersBranded 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 whateverfactors 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 brandequity. 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 knowledgeaffects 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 ofconsumers. 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 potentiallylinked 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 intheir 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 AssociationThe 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., "Whatdoes 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 likebest 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 doyou 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 abrand image. To provide more structure and guidance, consumers can be asked further followupquestions 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 TechniquesUncovering the sources of brand equity requires that consumers' brand knowledgestructures 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" answersthat 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 especiallyuseful 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 ofprojective 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 aredepicted buying or using certain products, services, or brands. Empty bubbles, asfound 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 ApproachesFresh 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 timewith them in their homes to see how they actually use and experience products

Customer-based brand equityWe 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 consumer’s 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 marketingprograms 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’ knowledgeabout 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 differentialresponse 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 consumer’s 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 realisethat 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 firm’s 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 anew 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 brandassociations. 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 brandimage 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 tothe 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 person’s self-image. Six general guidelines for managing customer-based brand equityemphasise 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 evaluatingpotential 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 orrecognise 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 isnecessary 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 structuresover 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 equityThere 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