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Table of Contents 1.1 Introduction…..…...…………………………………………………………... 1 1.2 Problem Statement………..…………………………………………………... 2 1.3 Delimitations………..………………………………………………………… 3 1.4 Definitions…………………..…………………………………………………3 1.4.1 Brand……………………..…………………………………... 3 1.4.2 Branding…………………………..………………………….. 4 1.4.3 Loyalty……………………………………...…………………4 1.4.4 Brand Loyalty……………………………………………..….. 4 1.4.5 Difference between Brand Image and Brand Personality…..... 4 1.4.6 Brand Extension………..…………………………………….. 5 2.1 Brands…………………………………...……………………………………..5 2.1.1 Brand Awareness…………………..…………………………. 6 2.1.2 Brand Attitude………………………………..………………. 9 2.1.3 Product/Brand Life Cycle Theory………………..…………... 9 2.2 Branding………………………..……………………………………………... 10 2.2.1 The Relationship………...…………………………………….11 2.3 Brand Personality……………………………………..………………………. 11 2.3.1 Marketing Mix……………………………..………………….12 2.3.2 Brand Charisma…………………………………..…………... 13 2.3.3 Brand Gender………………………………………...………..14 3.1 Strategic Branding…………………………………………………..…………14 3.1.1 Differentiating/Point of Difference…………………..………. 14 4.1 Customer Behaviour………………………………………………………...…15 4.1.1 Decision Making…………………………………………...…. 15 4.1.2 Model of Consumer Behaviour…………..…………………... 16 4.1.3 Brand Decision…………………………………………..…… 16 5.1 Creating Value………………………………………………...…………….… 23 5.1.1 Value Proposition……………………………..……………… 24 5.1.2 Communities………………………………………...………...24 A study on Brand Awareness 5.1.3 I-D-U Benefit………………………………………...………..24 6.1 Loyalty……………………………………………………………..…………. 25 6.1.1 The Internet…………………………………………………....26 6.2 Creating Brand Loyalty………………………………………………..……… 26 6.2.1 Categories………………………………………..…………… 27 6.2.2 Usage Rate……………………………..……………………...28 6.2.3 Satisfaction………………..…………………………….……. 28 6.2.4 Familiarity…………..………………………………………... 29 6.2.5 Trust…………...………………………………………………30 7.1 Brand Extensions……………………………..………………………………. 33 7.1.1 The Parent Brand…………………………..…………………. 37 7.1.2 Making Successful Brand Extensions……………………..…. 39 7.1.3 Drawbacks of Brand Extensions…………………………..…. 41 7.1.4 Unsuccessful Brand Extensions……………………………….42 7.1.5 The Model………………………………………………….….43 8.1 Threats………………………………………………………………..……….. 44 8.1.1 Private Label Brands………………………………………..... 44 8.1.2 The Media………………………………………………..……45 9.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………. 45 9.2 Further Research……………………………………………………….……... 47 Bibliography Appendix SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 2 A study on Brand Awareness 1.1 Introduction Most people have heard of brands like Apple, Coke Cola or Nike, which are all very strong brands with many loyal and dedicated customers. Brands, like the above mentioned, have all been able to some degree to create a special bond between the customer and the brand itself and profit from this bond. However, not all companies have been able to create a brand which has made this special bond with company’s customer. Companies have tangible and intangible assets. Intangible assets are the company’s brand and the company’s reputation. In the 1980´s a company’s financial statements capture approximately 75 percent of a company’s market value, this has changed drastically. In 2001 this number had dropped to around 15 percent (Nadeem, 2007: 46). From this one can see that intangible assets, such as brands, have gained an immense amount of value over the passed 20 years. This is why it would be interesting to have a look at brands, and how brands affect the companies’ ways of operating within the consumer market. The number of brands has drastically increased over the pasted 13 years. In a typical grocery store the consumer went from having 15,000 to having 45,000 brands to choose from (Riesenbeck, 2007: 11). As one can see from these numbers, companies have become more focused on creating brands. So, the brands need to differentiate themselves from other brands, otherwise they get lost among the immense amount of brands, and the consumers will never notice that particular brand, which is struggling to gain the loyalty of the consumers. Brand loyalty is important since studies have showed that gaining new customers costs between four and six times as much for companies than it does to keep a loyal customer (Light, 1994). That is why companies are so interested in getting loyal customer, since it will save them a lot of money and time. In recent years 70 percent of the 15,886 food, household and personal care products, which were put in the market, were brand extensions (Peter, 1996). By this one can see the great impact which brand extensions have come to have in the market, and the consumers experience that more and more brands are conducting line extensions and category extensions. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 1 A study on Brand Awareness A classical brand concept sounds like this; ‘one brand’ = ‘one product’ = ‘one promise’ (Apéria, 2004: 124). Apéria and Back (2004) argue that this is no longer true. Brand names are no longer just a name, now that name is associated with an identity, a style, and a personality. Furthermore, brand extensions have become something which is very common, which contradicts the ‘one brand’ = ‘one product´ (p.124). According to Apéria and back (2004) companies can extend their brand as long as they want, if the company just limits the extension to be within the product categories which the consumers seem fit for the brand. The same can be said about the brand promise; as long as the brand promise fits with the product category it can be used for more than one product but still under the same brand (Apéria, 2004). The thesis will go through consumer behaviour in regard to the consumer decision-making process, regarding the purchase of a brand or product and also the different aspects of branding. Brand extensions are also a part of the thesis with regards to the pros and cons of brand extensions and the impact which brand extensions can have on the parent brand. Furthermore, the different aspects of brand loyalty will be explored. For the consumer to be loyal to a brand and approve of the possible brand extensions, the consumer must first notice and understand the brand and its personality, therefore, as these elements are of importance for the consumer, these elements will also be covered in the thesis so that the reader will get a good and comprehensive understanding of brands. The thesis will have a look at some of the different stages which an evolving brand might go through and a way to deal with these stages. Firstly, the thesis will focus on understanding the brand decision process which the consumer will go through. Secondly, creating brand loyalty. Lastly, the extension of a brand will be explored. 1.2 Problem Statement As seen above branding and brand are nowadays some very important elements of companies’ business strategies. How does a consumer make a brand choice, and what will have impact on the consumer’s decision process? How can companies through brands create an attachment with the customers, which will result in customer brand loyalty? Furthermore, brand SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 2 A study on Brand Awareness extensions have pros and cons will be explored and what impact brand extensions will have on the parent brand. These are the questions which will be addressed throughout this thesis. 1.3 Delimitations This thesis will have its main focus on the consumer market. Since examining both the business-to-consumer market and the business-to-business market will be too extensive for this thesis. And limiting the thesis to only focus on the consumer market will allow the author to go into more depth with this area. Branding can be done within many areas, not just products and services. However, the thesis will mainly deal with products and services. There are many areas which one could study about brands; nevertheless, for this thesis not all will be relevant to study in connection with the subject area of the thesis. Therefore, the main aspects which will be studied within brands are; Brand awareness, brand personality, and brand attitude. However, some other minor areas will also be looked into to get a more comprehensive understanding of brands. Lastly, the thesis will have its main focus on the companies’ viewpoint and only to a minor degree the consumers’ viewpoint. 1.4 Definitions In this section a clear definition of the concepts central for this thesis will be made, so that the reader will be in no doubt of what is meant by the concepts. 1.4.1 Brand What is a brand? There are several definitions of what a brand is, such as Kotler and Keller (2006); “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Glossary G1). SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 3 A study on Brand Awareness 2.1.1 Brand awareness Brand awareness is an important element in creating a brand and creating customers for the brand. Without brand awareness the consumers cannot or will not buy the brand, because they are simply not aware of the brand’s existence (Peter, 1996: 44). Brand awareness measures how many people that knows what the brand stands for, and also knows what the brand promise is (Kapferer, 2004: 159). Brand awareness is something which must be completed before the company makes any efforts the form a brand attitude or a brand personality (Apéria, 2004: 45). Therefore, brand attitude and brand personality will be studied after this section. Apéria and Back (2004) state that there are four levels of brand awareness; ‘top of mind’, ‘brand recall’, ‘brand recognition’, and ‘unawareness of brand’ (pp.44-45). Kapferer (2004) proposes that there are three levels of awareness; ‘top of mind’, ‘unaided’, and ‘aided’ (p.159). The unaided corresponds to Apéria and Back’s (2004) brand recall and Kapferer’s aided is somewhat the same as brand recognition. Therefore, the two theories are somewhat the same. Top of mind: If a brand has a ‘top of mind’ level of awareness, then the brand is the first brand which comes into the mind of the consumer within a specific product category (Apéria, 2004: 44). ‘Top of mind’ awareness benefits the brand when the consumer has to make a fast decision on a product or brand, or when the consumer wants to make a buying decision without getting to involved in all the different brands (Kapferer, 2004: 159). Brand recall: “The brand is spontaneously named in the product category, but it is not the first brand that is mentioned” (Apéria, 2004:44). When the consumer makes the buying of a brand decision at home before the consumer visits the store, then it becomes important that the consumer will be able to recall the brand, without all the external stimuli which is in a store (Apéria, 2004). If the consumer is about to purchase a product where the consumer has a low degree of involvement, then brand recall (unaided awareness) has immense impact on the consumer’s choice of brand. This is due to the fact that the consumer does not perceive any great risk with SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 6 A study on Brand Awareness the brand, and at the same time the consumer does not want to spend a lot of time choosing this product (Kapferer, 2004: 159-161). Nevertheless, Kapferer (2004) proclaim that in some markets it is almost impossible for a brand to gain unaided awareness (brand recall) among the consumers (pp.159-161). Brand recognition: With this level of awareness the consumer only recognizes the brand and which product category it belongs to, when the consumer is tickered by some external factors (Apéria, 2004: 45-46). If the consumer visits a store and has not decided on which brand to purchase within a product category, then brand recognition becomes important (Apéria, 2004: 45-46). Unawareness of brand: This is the most unfortunate situation for the brand to be in, because in this situation the consumer is unaware of the brand’s existence (Apéria, 2004: 45-46). As stated above, if the consumer is unaware of the brand then it is very unlikely that the consumer will purchase the brand. Therefore, the company should find ways to make the consumer aware of the brand, because if consumers do not purchase the brand due to unawareness of the brand then the brand will not be able to stay the market for long. The different levels of awareness are also connected with how much money a company needs to spend. ‘Top of mind’ is the most expensive due to the high level of awareness the company will get among the consumers. Whereas, ‘unawareness of the brand’ is the most inexpensive; however, the level of brand awareness the company gains in this situation is not very favourable for a brand (Kapferer, 2004: 159-161). Nevertheless, all of these different levels of awareness have their own purpose, all depending on which market the brand is operating within (Kapferer, 2004:159-161). Kapferer (2004) argues that in some markets it might not be worth for the company to invest a lot of money in advertising for the company’s brand to reach the level of ‘top of mind’ awareness (pp.159-161). However, the level of awareness which the consumer needs to make a decision to buy a particular brand depends on how and when the decision is made, and also on the level of involvement the consumer has in the product category which the brand belongs to (Kapferer, 2004). This will be explained further in the section on decision making. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 7 A study on Brand Awareness Kapferer (2004) state that even though brand awareness is something which is measured at the individual level, brand awareness is; however, something which is a collective phenomenon. As Kapferer (2004) state: “When a brand is known, each individual knows it is known” (p.21). Peter and Olson (1996) suggest that advertising has the most impact on brand awareness, but publicity, personal selling, and sales promotion might also have an effect on brand awareness. For the consumer to make a purchase decision, the consumer needs different levels of brand awareness depending on what is being purchased and where and when it is being purchased (Peter, 1996). When facing a decision to purchase groceries, personal care products, clothing, appliances, or electronic products, the consumer only needs a low degree of brand awareness. In these situations the consumer does not need to know the brand name, the consumer just needs to be able to recognize the brand via for instance the packaging of the brand, the brand label or the brand logo. When recognizing the brand then the consumer should remember information about the brand, and then based on this be able to make the decision to buy the brand which has been recognized by the consumers (Peter, 1996). Therefore, brand recognition will be a sufficient level of awareness when the company is selling groceries, personal care products, clothing, appliances, or electronic products according to this. The consumer will in other situations need a higher degree of brand awareness for the company to persuade the consumer into making the decision to purchase the company’s brand. Situations where much brand awareness is needed, are when the consumer is a place or environment where there are no or only few brand related cues, and thereby no visual tickers for the consumer to remember the brand by. This could be when the consumer is at home and for instance needs to make a decision on which restaurant to go to for dinner. If the consumer can not recall the brand or brand name in this situation, the restaurant name, then it is very likely that the consumer will not consider the brand and therefore not buy the brand (Peter, 1996). In this restaurant example, this means that the consumers will not to the restaurant if the consumer can not recall the restaurant’s name. Something which is important for marketers to know about brand awareness is that if one brand increases its awareness among the consumers then this will be at the expense of another brand’s awareness. This is due to the way which brand awareness is measured. When SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 8 A study on Brand Awareness 2.2.1 The Relationship It is through branding and the brand personality that marketers create a special relationship between the consumers and the brand. As Martin and Sexton (2003) state, the consumers have many different kinds of relationships with the different brands such as; marriages of convenience, casual friends, courtship, flings, and secret affairs. So as will be seen later from the section on “Brand Personality” the consumers’ way of seeing a brand and relating to a brand is done in the same way in which one would relate to another person. 2.3 Brand personality The definition of brand personality by Aaker and Biel (1993) is;”…the way in which a consumer perceives the brand on dimensions that typically capture a person’s personality – extended to the domain brand” (p.84). Which is interesting since the consumer takes human traits and apply them to a brand. There is a popular analogy in marketing literature saying that brands are like people (Aaker, 1993: 97). Therefore, if brands are like people brands also have personalities, and like with human personalities, some will be drawn to that personality and others will not. Furthermore, Schiffman, Kanuk and Hansen (2008) state that there is enough research today to say that any brand personality, when the personality is strong and positive, will make the brand a stronger brand (p.149). Hansen and Christensen (2003) further suggest that the stronger and more powerful a brand personality is will result in a stronger bonding between the brand and the consumers. By this one can see that creating a personality for a company’s brand will be an advantage, however, as stated earlier, when creating a brand personality for a brand, the down side will also be that some consumers will not like this personality or not be able to identify themselves with that personality, and therefore they might not buy the brand, because of the misfit between the brand personality and the consumer. The brand personality framework suggests that there are five dimensions of a brands personality; ‘sincerity’, ‘excitement’, ‘competence’, ‘sophistication’, and ‘ruggedness’. And SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 11 A study on Brand Awareness 15 facets of personality that comes from the five dimensions, for example; ‘honest’, ‘up-to- date’, ‘intelligent’, ‘charming’, and ‘tough’ (Schiffman, 2006: 150). This framework seems to contain most of the different brand personalities within consumer products and again it is clear that the dimensions and facets are all traits which a human could have. Aaker and Biel (1993) state that the consumer usually goes after brands which they perceive as having the same personality as themselves. Or the consumers look for the brands which have the perceived personality, which the consumer would like to have. By this one can infer that consumers in some situations use the brands personalities to define themselves (p.85). Therefore, many consumers use brands to strive to get into a social group or get a certain social status, which they see as ideal for them. As argued earlier by Riesenbeck (2007), in the “Brand” section, the consumers make use of brands to especially make routine purchasing easier, however, Doyle (1990) further argue that even when people are conducting non-routine purchasing, brand image and brand personality are of high importance. This is still due to the fact that people know certain things about the brand through the branded image and personality, and instead of buying a brand or product which the consumer knows almost nothing about, the consumer will prefer buying the brand which has a clear and strong image and personality in the consumer’s mind (p.7). And the way in which the marketers position the brand in the minds of the consumers is by communicating the image and personality of the brand through advertising, design, packaging, effective distribution, and display (Doyle, 1990: 8). 2.3.1 Marketing Mix Aaker and Biel (1993) state that brand personality is something which is created over a longer time period by the marketing mix of the brand (p.93). Marketing mix, also known as the four Ps, consists of four parameters; product, price, placement, and promotion (Kotler, 2006: 19). However, Aaker and Biel (1993) uses a more elaborate version of the marketing mix which are; price, retail store location, product formulation, product form, packaging details, symbols used in all phases of brand communication, sales promotion, and media advertising (p.93). Even though, the silver lining of the marketing mix is that a brand personality will be stronger SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 12 A study on Brand Awareness and easier for the consumer to identify, if all of the parameters of the marketing mix are working together in the same direction towards creating the same brand personality. 2.3.2 Brand Charisma We can use brand charisma theory to explain why consumers are willing to pay a premium for a product which is not necessary superior to other products which are similar to the charismatic brand (Aaker, 1993). The relevance of brand charisma one can find from this quote from Levitt (1975);” No organisation can achieve greatness without…a vision that can produce eager followers in vast numbers. In business the followers are the customers” (In: Aaker, 1993: 101). Aaker and Biel (1993) furthermore, argue that if brands are like people and “people who generate the highest levels of motivation among large groups are called charismatic leaders” (p.98). If this argument holds, then the brands which have charisma will motivate more people to purchase the brand, and having a brand with charisma becomes a powerful thing for a company to have. According to Aaker and Biel (1993) charismatic leaders do more than just inspire and motivate people, they also “engender nearly addictive levels of attachment” (p.100). Even though this sentence may have a negative tone, it is one of the reasons why the thought of brands having charisma becomes very interesting for marketers. There the aim of having a brand with charisma is to create this very important emotional bond between the brand and the consumers. The charisma of a brand seems to be socially constructed by giving the consumer associations to emotional metaphors (Aaker, 1993: 65). As seen earlier, one of the important things within branding is for the brand to create an emotional bond between the consumer and the brand. This will result in a higher degree of brand loyalty from the consumers. A quote from the head of the Ogilvy & Mather’s advertising agency research and planning department, Max Blackston; gives a good picture of what has happened within marketing and brands in the recent years; “In an age when most products do the same thing, the emotional SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 13 A study on Brand Awareness very strong preferences towards a specific brand, without ever having tried the brand. But just prefer the brand based on the consumer’s perception of the brand (Doyle, 1990). 4.1.2 Model of Consumer Behaviour Kotler and Keller (2006) propose the model of consumer behaviour. The model of Consumer Behaviour has six different part which focus on different aspects of the consumer’s behaviour and what influences the consumer in relation to the purchase of a product. The six sections are; Marketing stimuli, Other Stimuli, Consumer Psychology, Consumer Characteristics, Buying Decision Process, and Purchase Decision. Under all of these parts there are subparts where one can go into more depth with the area (Kotler, 2006). The part which is of most interest for this thesis is the part regarding the Purchase Decision, which has to do with the consumer’s; Product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase amount, purchase timing, and payment method (Kotler, 2006). However, another model was found to be more appropriate in explaining consumer behaviour when buying a brand. 4.1.3 Brand decision As this thesis deals with brands, it is important to know how the consumers make a decision to purchase a product and especially how the consumers make a decision to purchase a specific brand. There are many theories trying to explain how consumers buy brands, and the debate still continues regarding the many theories good and bad sides (Chernatony, 1998). According to Chernatony and McDonald (1998) the consumers are not able to comprehend all the brand information which there is about a brand and are in most situations not willing to spend a lot of time finding this information. The model which will be used for explaining the consumers brand decision is Typology of consumer decision (adapted from Assael, 1987) which is the model presented below. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 16 A study on Brand Awareness Figure 1. -Typology of consumer processes (adapted from Assael, 1987: In: Chernatony and McDonald, 1998:69) The model is based on the fact that consumers only have small amounts of selective information and then uses the selective information to evaluate the brand and decide how the brand will perform (Chernatony, 1998). There are many factors which influence the consumers’ buying process regarding finding information about the brand such as time pressure, previous experience, and advice from friends (Chernatony, 1998:68-69). However, according to Chernatony and McDonald (1998) there are two factors which to a higher degree influence how the consumer will decide on a brand. These factors are the level of involvement the consumer has in the brand purchase and the consumer’s perception of the difference between the competing brands in the brand category. These are also the factors which are used in the matrix the typology of consumer processes. The Matrix shows the different stages which the consumer passes through when deciding on different types of brand purchases (Chernatony, 1998:69). As one can see in this matrix consists of four quadrants; ‘extended problem solving’, ‘dissonance reduction’, ‘limited problem solving’, and ‘tendency to limited problem solving’. Each of these will now be explained in depth below. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT Significant perceived brand differences Minor perceived brand differences High consumer involvement Low consumer involvement Extended problem solving Dissonance reduction Tendency to limited problem solving Limited problem solving 17 A study on Brand Awareness Extended problem solving: Extended problem solving is when the consumer has a high level of involvement and when the consumer perceives that there is a significant brand difference between the competing brands within the same product category (Chernatony, 1998: 69). Extended problem solving is mostly a decision process which occurs when the decision involves high-priced brands, and high-priced brands are often perceived as being risky to purchase because of the complexity of the product. Furthermore, extended problem solving could also be the consumer buying a brand which reflects the consumer’s self-image. In these situations the consumer will search for information about the different brands within that product category and evaluate the brands based on this information (Chernatony, 1998:70). Here the consumer will pass through five stages when making a complex purchase decision. The stages are; problem recognition (stage 1), information search (stage 2), evaluation of alternatives (stage 3), purchase (stage 4), and post-purchase evaluation (stage 5) (Chernatony, 1998: 70). First the consumer goes through the problem recognition stage, which will set off the information search. Here the consumer first uses the information from the consumer’s own memory. If this information is not enough for the consumer to make a brand decision, the consumer will have to get information elsewhere, for instance from advertising. The consumers get an immense amount of information in the form of various marketing messages, and therefore the consumer does not notice every single message. However, if the consumers get information which interests them, their attention will be drawn towards this (Chernatony, 1998: 70). As mentioned earlier, it is important for the companies and marketers to create brand awareness among the consumers and providing the information about the brand will heighten the awareness. When the consumer feel as though he/she has enough information to make a decision, then the consumers will evaluate the different brands against the criteria which the consumer sees as most important in the given purchase situation. Then the consumer will form beliefs about the different brands, these beliefs will be turned into an attitude towards each brand, and the brand which the consumer forms the most positive attitude towards is most likely the one the consumer will purchase (Chernatony, 1998: 70-71). When the consumer has made the brand decision and made the purchase of that brand, the consumer enters the post-purchase evaluation stage. In the post-purchase evaluation satisfaction plays a large role. If the consumer experiences a high level of satisfaction then the SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 18 A study on Brand Awareness The problem recognition is very simple in this situation; it might just be that the consumer has run out of a household product such as paper towels or fabric softener. Due to the consumer’s lack of interest in the product, the consumer will not actively seek information about the brands in this product category. The information which the consumer might have is information which probably has been received passively by the consumer, for instance, via a television commercial (Chernatony, 1998:75). The consumer may or may not evaluate the alternatives; however, if an evaluation takes place this is something which is done after the purchase and the beliefs and attitude towards the brand is also something which is formed after the purchase of the brand (Chernatony, 1998:75). Since the consumer has a low level of involvement, the information which the consumer gets is only received passively. This means that the consumer then needs a ticker in the purchase situation to recall this information, and therefore giving the consumer information about the brand is still of great importance (Chernatony, 1998:75) in order for the consumer to have something to recall the brand by. After the purchase the consumer will decide how satisfactory the brand is. The consumer might form some beliefs about the brand, although they would be weak, due to the lack of interest in the product category. If the consumer then finds the brand satisfying it will most likely lead to a repeat purchase of the brand (Chernatony, 1998:75). When regularly making purchases of brands belonging to the limited problem solving purchasing process, the consumer will reduce the decision process even further and just rely on the previous experience with the brand, and if the experience has been satisfactory, this could lead to brand loyalty from the consumer. However, one of the weak points of having a brand which is in the limited problem solving category is that the consumers are not as attached to the brand and are therefore easily persuaded to switch to another brand, through for instance, coupons or a free trial of the brand (Chernatony, 1998:75). Due to the low involvement of the consumers, the advertising for these brands should be simple and frequent. Therefore, focusing on one or a few benefits of the brand would be best since the consumer only pays little attention to these advertisements (Chernatony, 1998:75). Thus, making an advertisement with a lot of messages will just result in the consumer not being able to recall any of them. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 21 A study on Brand Awareness As mentioned above, the consumers are easily persuaded to switching to another brand. Therefore, the companies and the marketers could really benefit from making some promotion material like coupons or free trails of the brand (Chernatony, 1998:76). This could make the consumers switch from a competing brand to the company’s own brand. Tendency to limited problem solving: This is when the consumer has a low level of involvement in the purchase and at the same time perceives that there is a significant difference between the competing brands in that product category (Chernatony, 1998:76). Because of the low involvement Chernatony and McDonald (1998) state that the purchasing process of a brand in the ‘tendency to limited problem solving’ is similar to the purchasing process just described in the limited problem solving (p.76). Even though the consumer perceives that there is a significant difference between the brands in the product category; however, due to the low involvement in the purchase, the consumer will be less concerned about these differences (Chernatony, 1998: 76). Typology of consumer decision The companies and the marketers can use this model to figure out which kind of advertisement should be directed towards the consumers to get the maximal benefit out of the advertisements for the brand. First the companies should identify which kind of group the majority of the consumers of the company’s brand belongs to, with regard to if the brand is a low or high involvement brand and if the consumers see a significant difference between the brands in the product category. By doing this the company would be able to identify the consumer’s brand purchase process. The consumer with a high level of involvement in the purchase will more actively search for information. Whereas, with the low involvement purchase the consumer only receives information passively. The consumer perceiving that there is a significant difference between the brands in the product category is only something which will influence the consumer’s decision process if the consumer has a high level of involvement in the purchase. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 22 A study on Brand Awareness 5.1 Creating Value Kunde (2001) argues that we have gone from having a product oriented economy to having a value oriented economy. By this one could conclude that companies should be more focused on creating value for the consumers through the brand, instead of only being focused on the product. Consumers will try to get as much value for their money as possible. Therefore, consumers will buy the products or services which to them has the highest perceived value (Kotler, 2006: 141). Kotler and Keller (2006) further state, that through increasing the functional and emotional benefits of a product or service the marketers can increase the customer perceived value (p.141). Hence, both the function of a product or service and the emotional bond or benefit is of high importance, due to the customer perceived value and the fact that consumers want value maximization. However, there is also a link between the customer perceived value and customer loyalty. As Kotler and Keller (2006) argues here; “Whether or not the offer lives up to expectation (Customer Perceived Value) affects customer satisfaction and the probability that he or she will purchase the product again” (p.141). In this statement lies also another danger, whether or not the company can deliver the value which the consumers expect. So, having a low or average quality product and then advertising it as a high quality product will damage the company, since the product of low or average quality do not live up to the expectations of the consumer, then the consumers will probably not buy that product again. Something which companies and marketers must be aware of when it come to consumers expectations, is that if the companies and marketers send out signals to the consumers which makes the consumers’ expectations too high, then the likelihood of the consumers getting disappointed with the product is very high. However, if the expectations are set too low by the companies and marketers, the consumers will loose interest in the product (Kotler, 2006: 144). As can be seen from this, marketers must match the expectation they give to the consumers with the performance of the products or services which they are selling. One of the problems with creating value is that some companies have problems with aligning the brand value with the customer value. Marketers sometimes focus too much on creating the brand image and then the product behind the brand fails to live up to the value which the SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 23 A study on Brand Awareness Furthermore, Lau and Lee (1999) suggest that loyalty and brand loyalty also brings recommendations of the brand or product to friends and relatives. From this one can see the many benefits for a company that seeks to have a high level of customer loyalty. Doyle (1990) state that the general perception is that brand loyalty is something which is irrational. Niemuth (2008) support this by stating that people usually buy based on emotions, and not on rational thinking. However, Doyle (1990) further suggests that this is not the correct perception of brand loyalty, and that brand loyalty is not necessary irrational (p.13). Nevertheless, companies must find a way creating loyalty among the consumers, since, as stated above, a company is not likely to survive if the company is not able to create loyalty among the consumers. 6.1.1 The Internet Hein (2006) state that since gas prices have gone significantly up over the pasted years, consumers have changed their buying behaviour to buying increasingly more products online. This has resulted in a shift in the consumers’ brand loyalty. Robert Passikoff, president at Brand Keys, New York, put it this way; “(Consumers) let their fingers do the walking instead of getting into the car” (Hein, 2006). That the consumers are increasingly purchasing their products online is a fact which the companies need to deal with. For instance, companies could open up for the possibility to purchase its products online to embrace this trend. 6.2. Creating Brand Loyalty This section will look into some of the areas which will have an effect on consumer brand loyalty. Loyalty is built in different ways and to some extent it depends on what kind of market the company is operating within. First of all, the way in which the companies connect with the consumers is different in different market (Kotler, 2006: 157). SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 26 A study on Brand Awareness Peter and Olson (1996) found that 30 percent of women, in a survey they conducted, which made a brand decision when they were teenagers continued to purchase and use that brand to the present date (p.420). From this survey one can see that making consumers brand loyal in their teens will result in a relatively high percentage becoming brand loyal for a longer period, and maybe brand loyal for life. However, not all products will be appropriate to market and sell to teenagers, and therefore brand loyalty will be dealt with in broader terms. 6.2.1 Categories Peter and Olson (1996) proposes that there are five different categories of brand loyalty among the consumers; undivided brand loyalty, brand loyalty/occasional switch, brand loyalty/switch, divided brand loyalty, and brand indifference. Undivided brand loyalty: Undivided brand loyalty is what all companies’ wishes to achieve, because the consumer with undivided brand loyalty is a consumer who will not buy another brand, even though the specific brand is sold out. However, this kind of consumer is rather rare (Peter, 1996:514). Brand loyalty with an occasional switch: This is a more common degree of brand loyalty. There are many reasons for the consumers’ occasional switch to another brand, maybe the preferred brand is sold out or another brand has a special offer at a low price (Peter, 1996). Brand loyalty switches: Brand loyalty switches is described by Peter and Olson (1996) as; “Brand-loyalty switches are a competitive goal in low-growth or declining market” (p. 514). Divided brand loyalty: When a consumer has divided brand loyalty, then the consumer is consistent in buying two or more brands (Peter, 1996). Peter and Olson (1996) present an example of divided brand loyalty, where a household with the need to buy Johnson’s Baby Shampoo for the youngsters in the household, and another member of the household has a problem with dandruff and therefore uses Head and Shoulders. Hence, the household has a divided brand loyalty within the product group; shampoo (Peter, 1996). Brand indifference: Brand indifference is the opposite of undivided brand loyalty; this is when a consumer exhibits no apparent pattern in the purchasing of brand. Just as undivided brand loyalty, brand indifference is not very common (Peter, 1996). SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 27 A study on Brand Awareness These categories are subjective. By making different categories or degrees of brand loyalty the authors just want to make it clear for the reader that there are many different degrees of brand loyalty among the consumers, which is something the marketers and the companies need to be aware of (Peter, 1996). 6.2.2 Usage rate Peter and Olson (1996) state that having consumers with brand loyalty is most significant if the consumers are, what is considered to be, heavy users. Peter and Olson (1996) propose four different kinds of brand loyalty and usage rate connections. There are the brand loyal heavy users, the brand loyal light users, the brand indifference heavy users, and the brand indifference light users (Appendix 3) (Peter, 1996). As mentioned earlier the brand loyal heavy users seem to be the most valuable for a company. When it comes to the brand loyal light users, then the company’s task is to get these light users to increase their consumption of the brand. For instance, a company with the brand Arm & Hammer baking soda had many brand loyal customers which were light users. To increase these light users consumption of Arm & Hammer baking soda the company then showed the consumers new ways of using the baking soda (Peter, 1996). Here brand awareness again becomes very important, especially for consumers who are brand indifferent. Then there are the brand indifferent light and heavy users. Companies need to make the brand indifferent consumers more aware of the brand’s name and the brand’s name outstanding attribute(s) (Peter, 1996). 6.2.3 Satisfaction Whether or not a consumer experiences satisfaction depends on the product’s performance living up to the consumer’s expectation (Kotler, 2006:144). Schiffman, Kanuk and Hansen state that there are six types of customer satisfaction. The types are; ‘loyalists’, ‘apostles’, ‘defectors’, ‘terrorists’, ‘hostages’, and ‘mercenaries’. The ‘loyalists’ are completely satisfied customers who keep purchasing the products, whereas the ‘apostles’ are the customers where their encounter with the product or service have excited, in a positive way, their expectations. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 28 A study on Brand Awareness In dealing with brand reputation there is also the consumers’ word-of-mouth, both the good word-of-mouth and the negative word-of-mouth, which the companies need to deal with. Companies need to know the great impact that negative word-of-mouth can have on a brand’s reputation (Lau, 1999). One of the ways of dealing with and preventing the negative word-of-mouth is for the companies to set up channels where the consumer can easily come in contact with the companies. Furthermore, the companies should take good care of the consumers’ complaints and handle the complaints in a professional way, so that every consumer with a complaint feel that the company has dealt with the situation in a good way and that the company cares about the consumers’ complaints (Lau, 1999). Rumours are another aspect which can severely damage a company’s reputation. Companies should respond quickly to any rumours which could damage the reputation, so that the rumours do not spread (Lau, 1999). Brand predictability: A predicable brand is a brand where the consumers can with good confidence predict how the brand will perform. Having a predictable brand is something which will increase confidence and trust in the brand, because nothing unexpected will happen (Lau, 1999). Furthermore, as stated in the section about Familiarity, one can also see that consumers do not like change, hence, an unpredictable brand. To keep a brand predictable, the brand and the product under the brand must be consistent. The implementation of the consistency needs to go all the way through the company, so that the quality of every product under the brand is consistently the same, or as similar as possible. Furthermore, if major changes is needed for the product, then this should be communicated to the consumers, so that the consumers can get use to the though of the product changing and do not get surprised by suddenly changes to the product. Too many and too drastic changes to the product will make the product too unpredictable (Lau, 1999). It is not only the product and the product quality which needs to be consistent and predictable. The consistency also needs to be in all the aspects of the marketing communication such as; advertising media, point-of-purchase, displays, product packaging, product pricing, and the salespeople (Lau, 1999). Brand competence: Brand competence is the brands ability to meet consumers’ needs and to solve the consumers’ problem(s). When the consumers are certain that the brand in question SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 31 A study on Brand Awareness will be able to solve their problem, then the consumers might be willing to rely on that brand (Lau, 1999). With brand competence, companies should focus on only a few competences and then make the brand strong within these competences (Lau, 1999). Trying to have too many competences might confuse the consumers, because the consumers do not really know what the brand is good, if the company tries to be good at everything. And if a company tries to be good at everything at the same time, the company might end up being good at nothing or at best mediocre. Trust in the Company: Lau and Lee (1999) state that if someone puts their trust in a large unit then the smaller entities which belong to the larger unit are also likely to be trusted. In this context, the larger unit is the company and the brand is one of the smaller entities which belong to that unit. Lau and Lee’s (1999) results show that trust in a brand and trust in the company making the brand go hand in hand. Since there is this connection between trust in the company and trust in the brand, then when one of the two is strengthen then this will have a spill over effect on the other, as this will also be strengthen by this (Lau, 1999). Brand liking: Consumers must like a brand before they are willing to create a relationship or bond with that brand. Then when a consumer likes a brand then the consumer will most likely try to find more information about the brand and this is setting a stage for the consumer to start trusting the brand (Lau, 1999). Brand liking is many things. One way of making consumers like your brand is to make the product easy to use, pleasant to look at and good to feel and touch. These are aesthetic aspects which the company needs to make in a way so that the consumers will like the brand and the product (Lau, 1999). Another way of making consumers like your brand is by making the brand awake loving memories and warm feeling in the consumer’s mind (Lau, 1999). All of these five factors are important when the company wants to make the consumers trust the brand. And according to the model presented by Lau and Lee (1999) trust is essential when the company wants to create consumer loyalty. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 32 A study on Brand Awareness Morgan and Hunt (1994) further support the importance of the consumers having trust in the company. Their Commitment-Trust Theory suggests that trust will result in relationship commitment with the company. And any company would be interested in the consumers being committed to the company. 7.1 Brand extensions Brand extension strategies are under the area of branding. However, brand extension is a bit controversial, since a brand extension is; taking a successful brand name and then using that brand name for other products owned by the same company (Doyle, 1990: 18). As mentioned in the introduction, brand extensions cover a large part of the products introduced to the market today. This has to do with the fact that launching a new product could cost the company as much as $ 100 million (Kotler, 2006: 298) and in some cases even more, because of all the promotion it will take for the company to create consumer awareness and bring a new product to the market (Peter, 1996). It is also very difficult and expensive for a company to come up with a new brand name for a new product (Kotler, 2006: 298). Hence, a brand extension gives companies an opportunity to put a new product in the market in a more inexpensive way. Furthermore, only about 1 in 100 of the launched products will make it in the market. This is the reason why many companies choose to make brand extensions, since in general a brand extension will only cost the company half of the amount it would take to launch a new product with its own new brand name (Peter, 1996), and if the new product does not succeed, then the company will only have lost half the amount of launching a new product. Brand extensions often happen when a company discovers that the current product under the brand name is unable to penetrate the current market any further (Chernatony, 1998). Also as mentioned in the BLC section, a brand extension can also be used to avoid the decline stage or help a brand which has already entered the decline stage, which the brand might enter if the parent brand does not evolve. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 33 A study on Brand Awareness extensions from Coca Cola can be argues to serve a new segment within the product category of carbonated soft drinks. Coca-Cola has had relatively success with its line extensions, however, many other brand have not been so fortunate. For instance, Unilever’s Dove is a brand which might have taken their line extensions too far. This has resulted in a slowing of Dove’s growth. Even Unilever’s own Chief Marketing Officer; Simon Clift, agrees that the Dove brand has at times suffered under the overextension of the brand. Furthermore, Clift states that it is the extra sales which make the brand extensions so compelling (Neff, 2008). Category extension: The other type of brand extension is a category extension. A category extension is when the parent brand is used to enter a new or different product category (Kotler, 2006: 296). An example of a category extension is what Prada did a few years ago. Prada is mostly known for its clothes and shoes, however, Prada made a category extension into the mobile phone market, so now the consumers are able to buy mobile phones with the Prada brand name on it (http://www.pradaphonebylg.com/) (www.prada.com). One of the up-sides of category extensions is that such an extension can make the brand become something more to the consumer than before the category extension of the brand (Apéria, 2004). This could be like what Apple has done, where Apple’s category extensions from computers into Mp3-players and mobile phones, has made it so that, to some people Apple has become a lifestyle. This is possible due to the category extensions and branding which Apple has made (www.apple.com/). One of the most known brands which has made many category extensions is; Virgin. Virgin has extended its brand into the markets of cola, retailing, vodka, financial investments, airlines, jeans, and cosmetics. Because Virgin covers so many very different areas, many question whether the might cause brand dilution to the Virgin brand. However, Virgin has been quite successful, so this challenges the concept of brand dilution (Chernatony, 1998: 48- 49). Nevertheless, Chernatony and McDonald (1998) do suggest that there are only a few very accepted and very known brands, like Virgin, Marks & Spencer and Nike, which will be able to extend their brand into very different categories and do it with success (p.49). A brand can change and be redefined over time in response to change in the chosen target group or for the company to be able to gain growth in new and more lucrative directions. In SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 36 A study on Brand Awareness relation to this, a successful brand category extension can help to reposition the brand; however, it should be noted that this will most likely be time-consuming and very costly for the company to undergo a repositioning of a brand (Apéria, 2004). However, other authors argue that there are other types of brand extensions than the line extension and the category extension which has already been discussed. Tauber (1988) came up with seven types of brand extensions form making a study of 276 brand extensions. The seven types are; ‘same product in a different form’, ‘distinctive taste, ingredient or component’, ‘companion product’, ‘same customer franchise’, ‘expertise’, ‘unique benefit, attribute or feature owned by the brand’, and ‘designer image or status’. Nevertheless, these seven types can to some extend be put under either the line extension or the category extension. The line extension has some similarities with the ‘same product in a different form’ and ‘distinctive taste, ingredient or component’. Whereas, the category extension has similarities with the ‘companion product’, ‘same customer franchise’, ‘expertise’, ‘unique benefit, attribute or feature owned by the brand’, and ‘designer image or status’. Due to the many pros and cons of brand extensions, companies should gather as much information as possible and then based on this information, decide whether the brand extension is worth the risk of ruining the brand’s image/personality, reducing the core brand equity (Chernatony, 1998) and maybe the danger of brand dilution. 7.1.1 The parent brand It is important to know how far a brand can be extended, and how far a brand can extend is determined by the key associations connected with the parent brand (Apéria, 2004). Apéria and Back (2004) argue that a brand extension can strengthen the parent brand, if the brand extension can be fitted into the parent brand’s brand promise. They argue that the reason for this is that the more confirmation there is to validate the brand promise, the greater the likelihood is, that the brand promise is true. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 37 A study on Brand Awareness It is argued that if the parent brand does not add something intangible to the product it is connected with, then it will be hard for the company to make an extension of this brand and make the extension a successful extension (Apéria, 2004). Some research has shown that in some situations having a strong very parent brand can actually be a disadvantage and limit the brand’s extensions of the brand of product categories which are closely related to the parent brand. The reason for this is that if the consumers have very strong associations connected with the parent brand, then these associations can have a negative effect on the brand extension of the parent brand. The strong associations connected with the parent brand might hinder the consumers´ capability to learn the necessary associations which is needed for the category extension of the brand to become successful (Apéria, 2004). This is a contradiction to what has been stated by other author earlier about strong parent brands, which just proves that brand extensions are an area which is filled with dilemmas and disagreement among the author studying this field. Apéria and Back (2004) present this figure, which builds on the theory presented above: Figure 3. - Factors that affect direct extension of a brand from the parent brand category to be possible category (Apéria and Back, 2004:134). SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT Core Associate (In the parent category) Target Category Brand Relatedness Dominance New association to be learned 38 A study on Brand Awareness 7.1.3 Drawbacks of brand extensions Peter and Olson (1996) state that brand extensions can be very successful for a company. But companies using brand extensions are also taking a risk, with concern to the parent brand’s product. This is due to the fact that, the use of brand extensions can weaken the brand loyalty among the consumers. If the company has achieved to get many loyal consumers, then this is a very large risk to take for the company, because loyal customers are were the company makes their money, due to the high expense of gaining new customers. Some brand extension fail because the consumers do not find the brand extension appropriate, and due to this the consumers might start to question the competence of the brand. Furthermore, brand extensions, and especially line extensions, can confuse the consumers, so that they do not know which version of the product is the ‘right one’ for them (Kotler, 2006). This could happen if too many varieties are made within a product category, Kotler and Keller (2006) suggest that a result of this could be that the consumers rejects the new varieties and stick to the products which they feel are familiar to them and which have been tried and tested by the consumers (p.299). One of the dangers with brand extensions is that if a consumer tries a product, the parent brand, a line extension, or a category extension, and do not like this product. Then it is very likely that this consumer will not try other products under the same brand name of the product which the consumer did not like (Peter, 1996). Thus, companies can lose some of the consumers because of a bad experience a consumer had with one of the products under the brand. On the other hand, one of the worst outcomes of a brand extension is not that the brand extension fails in the market, but that the brand extension damages the parent brand. This rarely happens; however, when it happens that the brand extension does not live up to its promise to the consumers and harms the parent brand at the same time. It is most likely to happen in situations were the brand extension and the parent brand are seen as being very similar to each other (Kotler, 2006). SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 41 A study on Brand Awareness Brand extensions which fail to become successful will, according to Kotler and Keller (2006), only hurt the parent brand if the brand extension and the parent brand are similar to each other. In the context of brand extensions it is not only the competitors which the company needs to worry about. When launching a brand extension, especially within line extensions, the company might experience that some of the consumers using the parent brand switch to the brand extension, and thereby the company is now faced with cannibalization (Kotler, 2006: 299). However, in some situations cannibalization is not a bad thing for the company to experience, because the alternative for the company might be that the consumers turn to the company’s competitors’ products if the company did not make this cannibalizing brand extension (Kotler, 2006). Chernatony and McDonald (1998) also discuss cannibalization in connection with brand extensions, and state that cannibalization is unavoidable when a company introduces a brand extension (p.317). And because it is unavoidable then the companies and the marketers need to estimate how extensive the cannibalization between the parent brand and the brand extension will be. Kotler and Keller (2006) mention a not so obvious disadvantage with brand extensions. If a company decides to make a brand extension instead of introducing the product as a new product with its own brand name and brand personality. The company misses out on the opportunity to create a new brand which has its own unique brand personality (p.300). 7.1.4 Unsuccessful brand extensions Even though a brand extension does not become successful and the company needs to pull it from the market. This does not mean that the company can not in the future introduce a similar brand extension to the market and make this extension become successful (Kotler, 2006). It might be that the consumer market is not ready for this brand extension and might need some time to get familiar with the parent brand first, and then after some time have passed the brand extension can be introduced to the market again. Apéria and Back (2004) SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 42 A study on Brand Awareness suggest that if a brand extension fails, then the company should make some adjustments and launch a new extension which has a higher level of fit with the parent brand. For instance, Levi’s is one of the brands which tried to extend their brand from the jeans market and into the suit market. However, Levi’s was not successful in doing this extension (Chernatony, 1998: 49). 7.1.5 Model Based on the information above about brand extensions and brands an attempt will be made to create a model on how to launch a brand extension and make the likelihood of the brand extension succeeding increase. However, the reader should be aware that this is not a model which is supported by an empirical study of brand extensions made by the author. The model is also a way of making a small summery of some of the key notes of brand extensions. -First the brand extensions product category should be similar with the parent brand’s product category. -Not too many brand extensions within the same product category, because this can confuse the consumer and therefore the consumer might just stick to the parent brand within the category. -Gather information about the market which the brand extension is to be launched in, so the marketers can see if there is a need or a gap in that market which the brand extension can fill. -Create awareness among the consumers about the brand extension; otherwise the consumers might not know that this brand extension has been made. Apéria and Back (2004) state that there are three main criteria for a brand extension to become successful; the brand should have strong associations, the customer perceived quality should be high, and the level of awareness should be high. This fits to some the degree with the model which has been created for this thesis. Based on the above the model below is formed. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 43 A study on Brand Awareness significant difference between the brands only becomes something which the consumer concerned with if the consumer has a high level of involvement. As the company has now become aware of the consumers’ decision process when making a brand purchase, one of the things which the company could now focus on is creating brand loyalty. Companies can create brand loyalty in many ways, and as can be seen from this thesis many factors play a role in creating brand loyalty. However, two factors seem to be the most important for companies when they want to create brand loyalty. Having satisfied customers is of high importance when creating brand loyalty, since unsatisfied customer are not very likely to repeat the purchase of the brand which has not lived up to their expectations. Furthermore, trust in the brand and trust in the company will most likely increase the consumers’ incentive to stay brand loyal. When having established a good brand, then the company could start thinking about expanding the brand, and this could be done through brand extensions. Brand extensions can help the company reach a new segment which the parent brand was not able to reach, and launching the brand extension will be far less expensive for the company compared with launching a new brand which does not have the awareness from the parent brand to benefit from. One of the dangers of launching brand extensions is that if the consumer tries this extension and it does not live up to the expectations of the consumer, then the consumer might reject the extension, the parent brand, and maybe other extensions under the parent brand. Cannibalization is one of the downsides of brand extensions, and something which is also unavoidable. The brand extension might take some of the parent brands customers, but the alternative might be that the consumers turn to the competitors’ brands. The brand extension can strengthen the parent brand by giving the consumers more confirmation that the brand promise is true, however, this will only strengthen the parent brand if the brand extension lives up to the brand promise. However, if the consumer does not find the brand extension appropriate then the consumers will most likely reject this extension. Furthermore, the extension might in this situation hurt the parent brand. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 46 A study on Brand Awareness 9.2 Further research During the thesis it was found that there is, in many situations, a gab between brand value and customer value. This is an area which would be interesting to investigate further, to try to figure out why this is the case, and what companies can do to prevent this gab from acquiring. Furthermore, it was discovered that the consumer in some situations will have a preference towards a brand without any experience with the brand. The reason for this could be found in the consumer’s tendency to identify them with the brand personality. This could be something which would be very interesting to have a closer look at. The model which was made by the author in the section on brand extensions could be supported by an empirical study to validate the model, or make adjustments to the model, depending on the empirical data. Bibliography Aaker, David A. and Biel, Alexander L. (1993). Brand Equity & Advertising: Advertising’s Role in Building Strong Brands. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Hillsdale, New Jersey. Apéria, Tony and Back, Rolf. (2004). Brand Relations Management: Bridging the Gap Between Brand Promise and Brand Delivery. Liber AB. Printed in Sweden. Assael, H. (1987). Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action. Kent Publishing, Boston. Chernatony, Leslie de and McDonald, Malcolm. (1998). Creating Powerful Brands in Consumer, Service and Industrial Markets. Butterworth-Heinemann. Doyle, Peter. (1990). Building Successful Brands: The Strategic Options. The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 7 No.2 Spring 1990. Hansen, Flemming and Christensen, Lars Bech. (2003). Branding and Advertising. Copenhagen Business School Press. Printet in Denmark. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 47 A study on Brand Awareness Hein, Kenneth. (2002). What Have You Done for Me Lately. Brandweek, September 9, pp.20- 21. Hein, Kenneth. (2006). Research: Brand Loyalty Study Shows There’s No Place Like Home. In: Brandweek, October 26, 2006. Jacoby, J. and Chestnut, R. W. (1978). Brand loyalty: Measurement and Management. New York, Wiley. Kapferer, Jean-Noël. (2004). The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term. Kogan Page Limited. Printed in Great Britain. Keller, Kevin Lane. (1998). Strategic Brand Management. Prentice Hall. Kotler, Philip and Keller, Kevin Lane. (2006). Marketing Management. Pearson Prentice Hall, 12th edition. Printed in The United States of America. Kunde, Jesper. (2001). Unik nu… eller aldrig. Børsen Forlag A/S. Printet in Denmark. Lau, Geok Theng and Lee, Sook Han. (1999). Consumer’s Trust in a Brand and Link to Brand Loyalty. In: Journal of Market Focused Management, October 7, 1999. 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston. Levitt, T. (1975). Marketing Myopia. Harvard Business Review, September/October. Light, Larry. (1994). Brand loyalty marketing: Today’s marketing mandate. Editor & Publisher, volume 127 (12/10/94). Martin, W. Eric and Sexton, Thomas. (2003). A Brand New You. In: Psychology Today September/October 2003, Volume 36, Issue 5. SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 48 Brand Share New Segments New Technology Global Brands A study on Brand Awareness Appendix 1. The Brand Growth Direction Matrix Markets Existing New Existing Technology New SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 1 A study on Brand Awareness Appendix 2. The Brand Value Chain SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT One Com- pany One Brand One Brand Cul- ture One core- produ ct pro- gram for the brand One brand rela- tion One brand com- municati on One brand value- posi- tion Optimal valueposition in the market Manage- ment Intern culture Extern positioning 1 A study on Brand Awareness Appendix 3. Brand Loyalty and Usage Rate -Peter, 1996: 517 SUMOURYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT Brand loyalty Heavy usage Light usage Brand-loyal heavy users Brand-loyal light users Brand indifference Brand-indifferent light users Brand-indifferent heavy users 1