CHAPTER 9 Measuring Sources of Brand Equity Capturing

CHAPTER 9 Measuring Sources of Brand Equity: Capturing Customer Mind-Set

Strategic Brand Management Process STEPS Identify and establish Brand positioning and Values Plan and implement Brand marketing Programs Measure and Interpret Brand Performance Grow and Sustain Brand Equity KEY CONCEPTS

How do we measure this? 1. 2. It involves measurements of brand awareness and brand image 2 METHODS: Qualitative Quantitative Finding sources of equity through these methods can also be refered to as CAPTURING THE CONSUMER MIND SET

What is qualitative research? It is unstructured i. e. it allows for a range of responses A good first in exploring consumer brand product perceptions We need this to understand consumer behaviour

METHODS 1. Free Association Advantages: Simple, Powerful Technique: what comes to mind when thinking of the particular brand? E. g. What does Nokia mean to you? use the information to form a rough mental map for the brand gives idea of the strength, favourability and uniqueness of associations Results: A range of possible brand associations are identified and the range of possible associations help assemble a brand profile Guidelines: define what probes will be used and identify coding of responses

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2. Projective techniques Advantages: Uncovering the true opinions and feelings of the consumers Technique: Subjects are presented with an incomplete stimulus and ask them to complete it or they give consumers an ambiguous stimulus and ask them to make sense of it. E. g. Ink blot tests, completion and interpretation tasks, comparison tasks Results: The image for a brand is better captured and helps identify key brand personality associations.

3. Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique Advantages: Uncovering the subconscious motives for purchasing behaviour. Technique: Subjects are asked to think in advance about the research topic and to select a minimum of 12 images from their own sources that represent their thoughts and feelings about the research topic. These images are brought with them for a one on one two hour interview with an administrator who uses advanced interview techniques to explore the images with the subject and reveal hidden meanings through “guided conversation”. Subjects then use a computer program to create a collage with the images that communicate their subconscious thoughts and feelings about the topic. Researchers compile the findings in an interactive multimedia computer application. After the interviews key themes or constructs are identified, the data is coded and a consensus map of the most important constructs is assembled. Results: understanding consumer images of brands

4. Brand personality and values Brand personality is the human characteristics or traits that consumers can attribute to a brand. Advantages: The Big Five technique can assess brand personality more definitively Technique: Soliciting open ended responses to a probe eg. If a brand was a person what would it be like, what would it do, where would it live, what would it wear, who would it talk to if it went to a party? Another method involves marketers giving consumers a variety of pictures and ask them to assemble a profile of the brand. Brand personality can also be defined by the Big Five: Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, Ruggedness Results: An indication of brand personality is given. This is useful for recommendations and strategies for promotions.

5. Experiential Methods Advantages: To identify how people communicate and interact in real life situations. Technique: Researchers are sent into consumers homes to see how subjects approach their days, they also give business travellers cameras and diaries to capture their feelings when in hotel rooms and have also conducted “beeper studies” in which subjects are instructed to write down what they are doing when they are paged. Results: Consumers are observed as they consume so that every behaviour is captured