All banks attempt to convince the public of their specificity and the specificity of the products and services that they offer. The efforts to do so are often in vain because, with the exception of a few well informed clients, banking clients tend to be lifetime clients of the banking establishment which is closest to their home or employment. In this report, we will describe the SORGEM's prescribed method for rendering banks and their products distinct from others.
Brand Equity is a critical component of corporate value. It has been estimated that at least 15% of corporate profits are direct results of branding. Understanding brand equity contributes to appreciating the TRUE asset value of a corporation, establishing the value of a brand as a component of unit sale price, deciding whether to invest or to manage for profitability, knowing tire sustainable strengths of a brand and enhancing marketing effectiveness. However, in order to manage brand equity, we first need to be able to measure it. This paper presents a brand equity measurement technology based on a three- component definition of brand equity : economic, behavioural and attitudinal equity. A definition of each component is given and the techniques used to measure each of them is discussed. An application section demonstrates the far reaching and actionable implications of this brand equity technique in terms of evaluating, protecting and expanding brand equity.
The historic changes in Central Europe have opened up new worlds and opportunities for its peoples. The paper's objective is to prove that it is possible to conduct research with both sensitivity and insight in an emerging economy - research which provides the marketing manager with real direction. The paper concentrates upon Poland since it is the second largest market after the "Soviet Union" and the first to emerge from Socialism in 1989. The paper analyses and discusses the results of a series of studies which have been conducted since January 1990 and includes data from a study conducted specifically for this paper. Special attention is drawn to the fact that the image of Western companies and their products has been damaged through lack of marketing support, poor distribution and supply and inappropriate and uninformative advertising. The paper concludes that it is only companies who take the long term view and painstakingly establish a heritage and equity for their brands who can expect long term and sustained growth.
Traditionally, attitude research has been done by surveys rather than experiments. In part, this is a function of management regarding experiments as risky; they want certainty. This is unfortunate because experiments permit direct observation of cause and effect relationships, while surveys only permit correlations. Our definition of brand equity is the incremental price that a customer will pay for a brand versus a comparable product without the brand name on it. The mechanics of measurement involve randomly dividing customers into different cells and then exposing them to the test brand in the context of one or more competitors. The price of the test brand is manipulated from cell to cell in such a way that the consumer has no knowledge what the test brand is nor that price is a variable. While the basic design is elegantly simple, well thought through decisions are required regarding customers, competition, price levels, frequency of measurement, sample size, and units of measurement. In selecting customers it is critical to select those who are responsible for generating the greatest profits for the brand. In selecting competitors, one has to consider not just those within the category, but, often, those outside the category. In selecting price levels, the further apart the price points, the easier it is to discriminate. However, too large an increase may shift the brand into a different category. In determining the frequency of measurement, it is necessary to consider the dynamics of the category and how long it takes for management to respond to a problem, i.e., the deterioration of brand equity. Similarly, sample size should be partially determined by how quickly a response can be developed if a problem is identified. While typically the units of measurement will be dollars, for some categories time and distance may be appropriate surrogates. The output of brand equity research based on experimental design can help in making pricing decisions, assessing the effectiveness of a promotional campaign and of an advertising campaign, and in determining if a brand is strong enough to support line extensions.
The purpose of this paper is to outline an approach for identifying the equity inherent in a brand. It will suggest an approach for estimating brand equity as an economic quantity using a combination of easily measured customer dynamics. It will also suggest ways in which this measurement process can contribute to the effective management of brand equity. The approach outlined here has been used to evaluate over 400 brands and brand extensions over the past two years. It reflects a corporate perspective that we at Yankelovich have developed in our quarter century of working on brands and branding. As such, it marries an accounting viewpoint on the valuation of brands with a customer measurement process.
Most food and drink companies competing in the European markets of the 1990's see a challenge to exploit efficiently existing brand equities as well as to maximise the chances of success for new brands. The Quaker Oats company is present in Europe in some of the fastest - growing (and most competitive) markets - including breakfast cereals, petfoods and sports drinks. In all of these markets, and in each of the countries in which Quaker operates, one can identify many opportunities to launch new products. From the viewpoint of strategic marketing, the challenge is to prioritise these opportunities and to determine the appropriate ways to develop and grow our brand equities. In this paper, we will describe the approach which Quaker has taken to analysing and prioritising these opportunities for the next five years. This process included an evaluation of our existing brand equities and their potential for further development and renovation as well as an evaluation of the opportunities for some new brand ideas which were at various stages of development in the business.
Marketers have long sought to understand and benefit from the nebulous process by which consumers characterise and differentiate brands. The overall value of such differentiation applied to the choice process has come to be known as Brand Equity. Whilst this is important from the perspective of brand positioning, it does not address the much more fundamental question of how effective that positioning is in bonding users to the brand. This paper addresses this problem in various ways: -It develops a measure of closeness between the user and the product based on the proportion of those who define it as their main brand and who also regard themselves as very discriminating in deciding which brand of the category that they choose. This is called Brand Bonding. - It analyses the level of Brand Bonding for seventy-one products and brands in nineteen fast moving consumer goods categories. - It verifies that users distinguish between objective and perceptual product differences in product choice and it demonstrates that the main way people differentiate between products is through subjective characteristics. - It enables understanding of the proportion of a brand's users who are truly brand loyal (bonded) and the proportion who are simply "me-too" users, selecting it merely because it is widely accepted and available. -It highlights the high proportion of un-bonded main brand users and shows how individual brands are weak or strong and in particular, an understanding of the fundamental weakness of House Brands.
The measurement of the "Brand Equity" is more and more requested by Manufacturers: how to evaluate at a fair price the "value" of a Brand? The present paper intends to focus on the consumer side only, the main idea being that the "value" of a Brand must be related to consumer behaviour, its financial aspect being only the result of such behaviour. Mr RA. Schmitz (Unilever USA) mentioned in a previous paper that the "Brand loyal" category of users represents the major part of the profit generated by a Brand: it means that the "value" of a Brand is in some way related to the old concept of "brand loyalty". However, brand loyalty as obtained from questionnaires administrated to consumers is mostly considered as an "attitude" rather than a "behaviour": this is not yet an operational concept, being able to provide some numerical "value" to a given Brand. The most important objective of this paper is to suggest a new way of measuring the "Brand loyalty" based on behaviour, then providing Manufacturers with a long term operational concept derived from scanning records : the main goal of the attitudinal part will then be to tell Manufacturer how this brand loyalty may be influenced by marketing actions.
This paper discusses the complex issue of price sensitivity analysis. The authors argue that the most effective method, currently available, of evaluating optimum pricing for established brands is conjoint analysis or trade off. The paper brings evidence to suggest this is not the case for new brands. However, the authors claim a critical area not accounted for in traditional conjoint analysis is that of interaction. Interaction is defined and a method that, in the opinion of the authors, is the most effective of measuring this factor is presented. Three case histories are analysed in detail dealing with product/price interaction, brand/price interaction and service/price interaction. Analysis of these cases includes discussion of the major corporate issue of brand equity.
The paper discusses the issues involved in creating and managing brands internationally. The growth of strong brands in their home market has historically been a long-term process which requires not only consistent, creative management, but also a favourable environment. The evidence is that most such brands can be internationalized, giving the benefits of lower costs, synergy and time saving. On the other hand, the differences in national market structures, stages of development, competition and product roles, mean that international brand potentials are circumscribed by factors outside the brand owner's control. This implies tight realism in objective setting aided by dispassionate market and competitor assessment. Further, the time scales needed to build an international brand heritage require a consistent vision of core brand values and the management commitment to follow that strategy, often at the expense of the short- term profit. Research must provide global brand owners with the tools to assess opportunity and accurately predict potential, and to monitor brand equity internationally. Increasingly, it will need to address future strategic issues, rather than simply tackle tactical problems.