Abstract:

This paper addresses the challenge some automotive manufacturers face in building brand knowledge and identifies ways of overcoming this hurdle. Brand knowledge (familiarity) is frequently measured but rarely defined. The paper discusses how knowledge can be both quantified and qualified in a single measure: 'relevant knowledge'. Knowledge formation has as much or more to do with customers' desire to learn about a given brand (i.e. brand affinity) than the amount of brand related information available to them. Affinity is what drives knowledge formation, and the image elements that drive affinity are different from the elements that constitute knowledge.