Week 1: Brand value
Article: Branding in a hyperconnected world: Refocusing theories and rethinking boundaries. Journal
of Marketing (Swaminathan et al., 2020)
Hyper-connectivity and branding
● Hyper-connectivity: the proliferation of networks of people, devices, and other entities, as
well as continuous access to other people, machines, and organizations, regardless of time or
location.
● So, information is always accessible, search costs are low, goods and services are easy to
reach and firms are not the only source of info about their brand. This led to two major
changes in branding:
○ Blurring of brand boundaries: shift from single to shared ownership as the
heightened access to information and people is allowing more stakeholders to
co-create brand experiences and brand meanings alongside traditional brand owners
○ Broadening of brand boundaries: expand the geographic reach and societal roles
■ More brand-related stakeholders are getting involved in shaping brand
associations such as influencers, employees, activists, and governments
■ The role of brands broadens, commercial brands need a mission or purpose
beyond shareholder value maximization
Key theoretical perspectives in the branding literature
● Firm: views brands as assets
○ Strategically: key issues are the development and implementation of brand identity,
positioning, targeting, launching, brand architecture etc.
○ Financially: focuses on the effect of brand equity and branding actions on the stock
market value
● Consumer: views brands as signals and cues
○ Economic approach: focuses on the market signal of the brand (information
asymmetry reducing)
○ Psychological approach: focuses on brand knowledge and brand image as a cue
● Society: views brands as affecting society and culture
○ Societal approach: focuses on brands as dynamic, portable containers of meaning
○ Cultural approach: focuses on brands as cultural meaning producers and how they
enhance consumers’ lives
Boundaries of branding in the era of hyper-connectivity
● Information availability and speed of information dissemination:
○ Search costs which used to be high have decreased tremendously and the volume of
information can lead to an information overload
● Networks of people and devices and the growth of platforms:
○ Firms compete with other stakeholders about brand meaning (consumer reviews,
influencers)
● Device-to-device connectivity:
, ○ Brand experiences have become more complex because brands are now an integral
component of networks.
Article: Reflections on customer-based brand equity: perspectives, progress, and priorities (Keller,
2016)
Brand equity
● Brand: can be defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or combination of them which
is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors (Kotler, 1991).
● Brand equity: the added value of a brand to a product.
Brand value chain
● Brand value chain: dictates the process, from start to finish, of how a brand creates value
Customer-based brand equity
● Customer-based brand equity: the differential effect that brand knowledge has on
customer response to brand marketing activity (Keller 2016). You can build, measure and
manage customer-based brand equity by:
○ Building customer-based brand equity: was defined in terms of three activities
■ Choosing brand identities or elements
■ Designing and implementing marketing activities themselves
■ Leveraging secondary associations by linking the brand to some other entity
(a person, place or thing)
○ Measure customer-based brand equity: two approaches
■ Indirect approach: focused on potential sources of brand equity by
measuring brand knowledge
■ Direct approach: measure the differential effect created by that brand
knowledge on consumer response to different aspects of the brand’s
marketing program
○ Manage customer-based brand equity: six guidelines were identified
, ■ Emphasize the importance of taking a broad and long-term view of
marketing a brand.
■ Specify the desired consumer knowledge structures and core benefits for a
brand.
■ Consider a wide range of traditional and non-traditional advertising,
promotion and other marketing options.
■ Coordinate the marketing options that were chosen
■ Conduct tracking studies and controlled experiments
■ Evaluate potential extension candidates.
Associative network memory model
● From psychology to branding
● Nodes (stored information)
● Links (strength of association between nodes)
○ Brand awareness → brand associative network → the pattern is a
brand image
CBBE/Brand Resonance Model
● Brand awareness
○ Recall vs. recognition (Keller 1993)
■ Recall: the capacity consumers have to remember brand names with little
prompting.
■ Recognition: the extent to which a consumer can correctly identify a
particular product or service just by viewing the product or service's logo,
tagline, packaging, or advertising campaign.
○ Depth vs. Breadth (Keller 2016)
■ Depth: how easily customers can recall or recognize the brand.
■ Breadth: the range of purchase and consumption situations in which the
brand comes to mind.
● Brand associations
○ Composition of the associative network
■ Which associations? → Nodes
■ Connections between associations → Links
○ Characteristics of those components
■ Types of associations (Keller 1993)
● Functional vs. symbolic
● Attributes vs. benefits
■ Criteria for contribution to CBBE
● Brand positioning (Keller et al. 2002)
● Brand Attitude
○ Associations as such descriptive!
■ “What comes to mind when you think of a brand?”
■ Other nodes activated after the brand node has been activated
○ But also have a direction
■ Positive/negative, favorable/unfavorable
, ■ Individual association level
○ But eventually: “overall brand evaluation”
■ Mental reaction/response to a
brand
■ Brand attitude
● Brand Resonance
● The brand resonates/vibrates
● Different terminology
○ Consumer-Brand Relationship,
brandship, brand Love
● Brand resonance goes far beyond brand attitude!
Integrated overview models
● Brand positioning model: this is a model that
says you always have PoPs and PoDs
○ PoP: These are areas where you are
the same as the competitor
○ PoD: These are differences between
you and the competitor
● Brand resonance model: how consumers form
relationships with brands
○ Left side: rational route
○ Right side: emotional route
● Brand value chain model: tracks the value
creation process to better understand the
financial impact of marketing expenditures
and investments to create loyal customers and
strong brands
Other views on (CB)BE
Article: Rethinking Brand Development in an Interactive Marketplace (Schultz, 2016)
Six new areas of brand research that help to keep up
● Shift to behavioural data: use real-world, real-time information Instead of small sample
psychological tests. The focus should be more on understanding why customers and
Article: Branding in a hyperconnected world: Refocusing theories and rethinking boundaries. Journal
of Marketing (Swaminathan et al., 2020)
Hyper-connectivity and branding
● Hyper-connectivity: the proliferation of networks of people, devices, and other entities, as
well as continuous access to other people, machines, and organizations, regardless of time or
location.
● So, information is always accessible, search costs are low, goods and services are easy to
reach and firms are not the only source of info about their brand. This led to two major
changes in branding:
○ Blurring of brand boundaries: shift from single to shared ownership as the
heightened access to information and people is allowing more stakeholders to
co-create brand experiences and brand meanings alongside traditional brand owners
○ Broadening of brand boundaries: expand the geographic reach and societal roles
■ More brand-related stakeholders are getting involved in shaping brand
associations such as influencers, employees, activists, and governments
■ The role of brands broadens, commercial brands need a mission or purpose
beyond shareholder value maximization
Key theoretical perspectives in the branding literature
● Firm: views brands as assets
○ Strategically: key issues are the development and implementation of brand identity,
positioning, targeting, launching, brand architecture etc.
○ Financially: focuses on the effect of brand equity and branding actions on the stock
market value
● Consumer: views brands as signals and cues
○ Economic approach: focuses on the market signal of the brand (information
asymmetry reducing)
○ Psychological approach: focuses on brand knowledge and brand image as a cue
● Society: views brands as affecting society and culture
○ Societal approach: focuses on brands as dynamic, portable containers of meaning
○ Cultural approach: focuses on brands as cultural meaning producers and how they
enhance consumers’ lives
Boundaries of branding in the era of hyper-connectivity
● Information availability and speed of information dissemination:
○ Search costs which used to be high have decreased tremendously and the volume of
information can lead to an information overload
● Networks of people and devices and the growth of platforms:
○ Firms compete with other stakeholders about brand meaning (consumer reviews,
influencers)
● Device-to-device connectivity:
, ○ Brand experiences have become more complex because brands are now an integral
component of networks.
Article: Reflections on customer-based brand equity: perspectives, progress, and priorities (Keller,
2016)
Brand equity
● Brand: can be defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or combination of them which
is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors (Kotler, 1991).
● Brand equity: the added value of a brand to a product.
Brand value chain
● Brand value chain: dictates the process, from start to finish, of how a brand creates value
Customer-based brand equity
● Customer-based brand equity: the differential effect that brand knowledge has on
customer response to brand marketing activity (Keller 2016). You can build, measure and
manage customer-based brand equity by:
○ Building customer-based brand equity: was defined in terms of three activities
■ Choosing brand identities or elements
■ Designing and implementing marketing activities themselves
■ Leveraging secondary associations by linking the brand to some other entity
(a person, place or thing)
○ Measure customer-based brand equity: two approaches
■ Indirect approach: focused on potential sources of brand equity by
measuring brand knowledge
■ Direct approach: measure the differential effect created by that brand
knowledge on consumer response to different aspects of the brand’s
marketing program
○ Manage customer-based brand equity: six guidelines were identified
, ■ Emphasize the importance of taking a broad and long-term view of
marketing a brand.
■ Specify the desired consumer knowledge structures and core benefits for a
brand.
■ Consider a wide range of traditional and non-traditional advertising,
promotion and other marketing options.
■ Coordinate the marketing options that were chosen
■ Conduct tracking studies and controlled experiments
■ Evaluate potential extension candidates.
Associative network memory model
● From psychology to branding
● Nodes (stored information)
● Links (strength of association between nodes)
○ Brand awareness → brand associative network → the pattern is a
brand image
CBBE/Brand Resonance Model
● Brand awareness
○ Recall vs. recognition (Keller 1993)
■ Recall: the capacity consumers have to remember brand names with little
prompting.
■ Recognition: the extent to which a consumer can correctly identify a
particular product or service just by viewing the product or service's logo,
tagline, packaging, or advertising campaign.
○ Depth vs. Breadth (Keller 2016)
■ Depth: how easily customers can recall or recognize the brand.
■ Breadth: the range of purchase and consumption situations in which the
brand comes to mind.
● Brand associations
○ Composition of the associative network
■ Which associations? → Nodes
■ Connections between associations → Links
○ Characteristics of those components
■ Types of associations (Keller 1993)
● Functional vs. symbolic
● Attributes vs. benefits
■ Criteria for contribution to CBBE
● Brand positioning (Keller et al. 2002)
● Brand Attitude
○ Associations as such descriptive!
■ “What comes to mind when you think of a brand?”
■ Other nodes activated after the brand node has been activated
○ But also have a direction
■ Positive/negative, favorable/unfavorable
, ■ Individual association level
○ But eventually: “overall brand evaluation”
■ Mental reaction/response to a
brand
■ Brand attitude
● Brand Resonance
● The brand resonates/vibrates
● Different terminology
○ Consumer-Brand Relationship,
brandship, brand Love
● Brand resonance goes far beyond brand attitude!
Integrated overview models
● Brand positioning model: this is a model that
says you always have PoPs and PoDs
○ PoP: These are areas where you are
the same as the competitor
○ PoD: These are differences between
you and the competitor
● Brand resonance model: how consumers form
relationships with brands
○ Left side: rational route
○ Right side: emotional route
● Brand value chain model: tracks the value
creation process to better understand the
financial impact of marketing expenditures
and investments to create loyal customers and
strong brands
Other views on (CB)BE
Article: Rethinking Brand Development in an Interactive Marketplace (Schultz, 2016)
Six new areas of brand research that help to keep up
● Shift to behavioural data: use real-world, real-time information Instead of small sample
psychological tests. The focus should be more on understanding why customers and
