Introduction Branding, Advertising, Brand Equity

The Nature of Brands

When we think of brands, we usually think of products we buy: Coke,
Cadbury, Ford, Hoover, Persil, and Mars. But just about anything can
Advertising and Brand Equity be branded. Products, services, corporations,
retail stores, cities, organizations, even individuals can be seen as brands.
Remember, a brand name is meant to embody information about something,
information that represents an added value, differentiating it in a marked
way from alternatives. A brand name is meant to trigger in memory positive
associations with that brand. Politicians, hospitals, entertainers, football
clubs, corporations, all want their name, their brand, to mean something
very specific to their market. It is how they wish to be seen, and how they
wish to be distinguished from competitive alternatives.
Brand Attitude
A brand does provide information. But what kind of information does a brand
provide, and where does it come from? Think about some brands you know.
What comes to mind when you think about them? No doubt a great deal
more than the fact that it is a particular product. Perhaps you were thinking
about how much you like it, that it is well known, or that it is one of the
best. All of these thoughts reflect what we call brand attitude. A brand name
represents everything a person knows about a particular product and what it
means to them. It provides a convenient summary of their feelings,
knowledge and experience with the brand. It means they do not need to
spend a great deal of time researching a product each time they are
considering a purchase. A persons evaluation of a product is immediately
reconstructed from memory, cued by the brand name. But again, where does
that brand attitude come from?
Brand Equity

The effect of a positive brand attitude leads to something marketers call

brand equity. What exactly is brand equity? Most marketers would agree that
it is that something attached to a brand that adds value over and above the
objective characteristics of the product or service. Whatever that something
is, it is embodied in peoples attitudes towards that brand. It is dynamic, and
subject to change over time. It attaches itself to the brand name, providing a
current summary of peoples feelings, knowledge and experience with that
product or service. Think about chocolate for a minute. Basically, chocolate is
chocolate. Or is it? Are some brands better than others? Why? What about
washing-up powder? They all get the job done, and use the same basic
ingredients. Or do you think some do a better job than others? What about
toothpaste, or vodka, or underwear? Where do the differences among brands
in these product categories come from? How much of the difference is real
versus perceived? Why do you prefer one brand over another, especially if
when looked at with a coldly objective eye, there is very little, if any, actual
difference in the products?
Measuring Brand Equity
Brand equity is a result of brand attitude, and this is what provides the key to
its understanding. In many ways, building and ensuring a continuing positive
brand attitude is what strategic brand management is all about, because it
does lead to strong brand equity. The most important thing to understand
when you are trying to measure brand equity is that what is needed is a
measure of understanding, not a measure of the results or consequences of
a brands equity. Too often, when people measure brand equity, they are
really only tracking summary measures of what is going on in the market as
a result of the brands equity. What is needed is a measure of the
components that lead to brand equity, and this means measures of how the
market forms current attitudes towards the brand. If we are to really
understand a brands equity, we must understand how it is constructed. It is
this understanding that ensures an effective positioning in our marketing

communications, and the ability to adjust that positioning over time as

needed to continue building and sustaining positive brand equity. We
measure brand attitude using an Expectancy-Value model (considered by
most researchers in consumer behaviour to be the best model of attitude).
Basically, this model states that a persons attitude towards something, a
brand or product in our case, is the sum of everything they know about it
weighted by how important those beliefs are to them. Obviously, we are not
able to study everything about a Advertising and Brand Equity brand or
product, but we can and should consider everything critical to the benefit
positioning of the brand. If we are to understand the current equity of a
brand, it is necessary to deconstruct its positioning in order to access the
strengths and weaknesses of the belief structure that sustains peoples
attitudes towards it. It should now be clear that to a large extent a brand is
not a tangible thing at all, but rather the sum of what someone knows,
thinks, and feels about a particular product. In a very real sense, brands only
exist in the minds of consumers, but that does not make them any less real.
And to a very real extent, brands and the equity attached to them exist as a
result of marketing communication, and especially advertising. It is
advertising (when successful) that positions a brand in the consumers mind,
nurtures salience, and builds positive brand attitude that leads to a strong
brand equity.
Brand Positioning
At its most general, a brand position is a supercommunication effect that
tells the consumer what the brand is, who it is for, and what it offers. This
reflects the relationship between brand positioning and the two core
communication effects of brand awareness and brand attitude. Its easy to
understand that one must have strong awareness if a brand is to be
considered when the need for that type of product (however the consumer
defines it) occurs. Strong brand awareness (for almost any brand) must be
generated and sustained with marketing communication. It is marketing

communication, and advertising in particular, that builds and maintains

brand salience. It is not enough for a brand to be recognized if it is to be
successful. A brand must occupy a salient position within the consumers
consideration set. In fact, the strength of a brands salience is one indicator
of the brands equity. (A useful measure of this is the ratio of top-of-mind
recall to total recall among competitive brands in a category.) Brand attitude,
however, is not quite so easy to deal with. Who exactly is the target
audience? Is everyone looking for the same thing; or the same things all the
time? What is important, and to whom? How are brands seen to deliver on
the things important to the target audience? Answers to these questions are
critical if we are to positively effect brand attitude.
Role of effective Positioning
The role of benefits in effective positioning in communication is of course
essential. But benefits must be considered in relationship to brand attitude,
which in its turn is the link to purchase motive. Consumers hold what we
might think of as an overall summary judgement about a brand, following
the Expectancy-Value notion of attitude: Hush Puppies makes great shoes is
an attitude about Hush Puppies that connects the brand in the consumers
mind with what is the likely purchase motive, sensory gratification (i.e. they
buy Hush Puppies to enjoy them). This brand attitude, however, which we
might think of as a superbelief, doesnt just spring from nowhere, but is the
result of one or more beliefs about the specific benefits the brand is thought
by the consumer to offer in support of that overall attitude. Effective
communication strategy requires an understanding of what that belief
structure is, and how it builds brand attitude. Within the overall positioning
that results from this understanding, one we must determine what the
benefit emphasis and focus should be (cf. Percy, Rossiter, and Elliott, 2001).
To begin with, it is important to remember that purchase motive is really the
underlying basis of benefit. Purchase motives are, after all, the fundamental
energizers of buyer behavior. These same motives also energize the usage

of products. Motive-based positioning requires a correct answer to the

question of why consumers in the category are really buying particular
brands. Unfortunately, most benefits tend to be motivationally ambiguous.
One must also be careful to distinguish between motives that drive product
category decisions rather than brand decisions. People may buy (say) active
casual footwear because they are comfortable (a negative motive), but buy
particular brands for more style related reasons (a positive motive). This is
an absolutely critical distinction. Benefits like comfort or low price relate to
negative motives, and are unlikely to drive specific brand purchases. Yet,
someone may be looking for a good price in the category, but not at the
expense of style. The reason this is such an important point is that positive
motives suggest marketing communication where the execution itself
actually becomes the product benefit. Here more than ever a truly unique
execution is required where the brand owns the feeling created by the
advertisers for the brand. You cant prove you have a Advertising and Brand
Equity more stylish or popular shoe, but you can make people believe you
do.