When we think of brands several immediately come to mind, but perhaps what's most important is that we realize we don't make the brand. The brand resides in the hearts and minds of our customers, so as marketers we are simply caretakers since the brand already exists. There are steps we can take to help our brand be more successful. Most importantly, we need to find out from our customers what our brand best represents to them so we can use this information in planning how we care for our brand. This includes how we nurture it, how we grow our brand and how we make it stronger.

So what exactly is Brand Equity? We have already established that the Brand resides with our customers. What we need to determine is what assets (and liabilities) do they associate with our brand's name and symbol that adds to (or possibly subtracts from) the value provided by our products and services. Sounds simple enough but it involves work. First, there are four major components we need to be aware of when defining Brand Equity. They are Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality, Brand Loyalty and Brand Associations.

Brand Awareness refers to the strength of a brand’s presence in the customer’s mind. Brand Recognition simply means familiarity and liking - this is remembering past exposure to the brand. Was it a good or bad experience? Brand Recall is when the Brand’s name comes to a customer’s mind when the brand’s product class is mentioned. Beware, however, of the Brand Graveyard, a category in which brands can be top-of-mind but don’t inspire purchasing action.

Brand Name Dominance occurs when customers only recall a single brand name in a particular product category. If we find it necessary to create additional awareness for our brand, we must realize two important factors. First, it is important to have a broad sales base. Second, it is important to operate outside normal media channels, such as sponsorship or promotions to achieve awareness.

Two good examples of Brand Dominance are Xerox and Kleenex. Xerox owns the copying business. Almost everyone at some point has asked a colleague to “Xerox” a document as shorthand for “make a copy of” the document. The same is true of Kleenex – people often ask for a “Kleenex” instead of a “facial tissue.” When people begin using a brand name to mean a particular product category, awareness of the brand obviously increases significantly.

Perceived Quality

Helps drive financial performance, a major thrust of a business, and drives other aspects of how a brand is perceived.

Brand Loyalty

It is less costly to keep loyal customers than to draw in new ones. A high customer loyalty base allows companies to predict sales and profit streams. To maintain loyalty segmentation, it is important for management to avoid distribution gaps or being out of stock because this can influence customers to switch brands. However, this is not a process of building brand identity. Methods of increasing Brand Loyalty include Frequent Buyer Programs, Preferred Customer Programs, Customer Clubs and Database Marketing.

Brand Associations

Simply stated, Brand Associations are what it is the organization wants the brand to stand for in the customer’s mind. To match this with what already exists in the customer's mind can be challenging and involve a great deal of work.

This information serves as only an introduction to Building Stronger Brands. Please contact us if you would like to know more about how we have helped our clients build stronger brands. You can also access Our Results to review relevant case histories, including BMC, Chevron Oronite, ConocoPhillips, CCA, Exxon and Transco.