Management has concluded that brands represent the most important asset of a company. Independent from their branches, this is almost true for all brands. Brands demand high investment in marketing activities in order to secure and build value. The profitability of this investment can be evaluated from two points of view. The extent to which the investment can satisfy the main objectives of brand leadership, which is to reach an attractive positioning for the consumer and distinguish the brand from competitive offers must be evaluated. The marketing investment also must be assessed according to its orientation towards profit, meaning that the Return on Brand Investment should be assessed from a qualitative point of view as well as from a financial oriented quantitative perspective. This paper introduces an innovative approach to brand performance measurement which satisfies both perspectives of brand strength as well as the financial objectives. A model based on the statistical instrument of the causal analysis has been developed to help management allocate future marketing budgets effectively and efficiently upon the different marketing instruments.
This paper deals with the fit of sets of fragrance elements (36 elements each) to 30 different end uses, varying from purely 'fine' to purely 'functional', by means of an integrated approach called a 'mega-study'. The method used was conjoint analysis, executed on the Internet, with 150-160 respondents in each of the 30 related studies, respectively. The data suggest that respondents can identify particularly which elements in a fragrance oriented concept fit a specific end use, and that the fit to the end use differs by the specific end use. Three segments emerge from the study, based upon the pattern of the responses, with one of the three segments exceptionally responsive to the fragrance descriptions. A second recurring segment emerged that disliked fragrance messaging. A third segment emerged that liked fragrances, but liked other aspects of the concept far more. The presentation shows the nature of these segments, and the business opportunity to be gained by creating fragrance concepts that appeal to the segments, rather than to the general population.