What sits between B and C ?
How to create Brand Equity in the Consumer Market
There is no letter that sits between B and C in the Alphabet. However, in the Marketing Alphabet there is something sitting between B and C without which marketing wouldn’t be in a chance to function.
B – Brand / Business. C = Consumer >>>. what sits between B and C is Be = Brand Equity.
As elaborated in the article last week, “BE” is a creation of both B and C as what B (Brand) does to create Brand Equity is subject to the reactions of C. In other words, the efforts taken by B is always going through a moderating effect from C as the success of B’s efforts are subject to the changes in the attitude towards the brand from C.
Key Elements of Brand Equity
Brand Equity was first introduced by David Aaker in his book in 1991, where he identified the key elements or constructs of BE;
Brand Equity = Awareness + Association + Performance + Loyalty
Even though he introduced the concept and the constructs of the BE, the first to introduce a proper mechanism of building Brand Equity was; Kevin Lane Keller.
As per the model elaborated by Keller; the first step of creating brand equity is “Awareness”. Creating Awareness is about letting the market know about the existence of the brand in the market. Once awareness is created at the point of consideration, the consumer can either think rationally or emotionally about the brand. If the consumer purchases the brand due to a logical or rational reason, there would be a judgment after using the brand. If it’s an emotional attraction, there would be a feeling that is formed about the brand. Either way, the consumer can continue to buy the brand, if the “Judgement” or the “Feeling” is a positive one towards the brand. If the consumer establishes this relationship with the brand in the long run, it creates loyalty which is known as “Brand Resonance”.
1. Identity - creating awareness among the target consumers on what the brand is and this can be achieved with heavy advertising
2. Meaning - What the brand stand for … Points of Parity and Point of Difference. The points of parity are more like the hygiene factors which are taken for granted by the market. The new USP that is brought to the market by the brand will be the POD. (This will be elaborated next week). This could be more like the appeal of the brand for a consumer to buy. It could be an emotional reason, logical reason or a sensorial reason such as taste, aroma, look and feel etc.
3. Response - Once the brand is consumed or used, what the consumer feels or thinks is the response. It could be an overall negative or a positive one and at the same time, will be a judgement or a feeling. For example, it can work in a funny way when people measure the performance of a food brand such as Pizza based on how fast it’s delivered.
4. Resonance - This is about the relationship between the brand and the user. When a brand is used over a period of time, there is a relationship built between the brand and the user. This creates intense loyalty towards a brand. There are people who hasn’t changed their shampoo brand for 20 or even 30 years. This type of loyalty is more than mere consumption and it’s more about finding a right partner brand. Building brand equity is a challenge. It requires a great brand custodian and also great team behind the brand to work on it 24/7. The brand research team, advertising team, media planning team, digital media team and brand activations team need to be in harmony to make it happen.
More details on awareness and other measures will be discussed in future articles.
As per the model elaborated by Keller; the first step of creating brand equity is “Awareness”. Creating Awareness is about letting the market know about the existence of the brand in the market. Once awareness is created at the point of consideration, the consumer can either think rationally or emotionally about the brand. If the consumer purchases the brand due to a logical or rational reason, there would be a judgment after using the brand.