Chapter 5: Researching for Brand Equity

Contents Rationale for tracking a brand Qualitative techniques to track a brand Quantitative techniques to track a band

Introduction Tracking a brand involves collecting information about the brand from customers at regular intervals of time.

Dainik Bhaskar’s Survey for Success The first edition of Dainik Bhaskar was launched on 13 August 1958 in Bhopal. However, it was only in 1983 that it ventured out of its hometown and embarked on an ambitious journey to become the largest read newspaper in India by launching its Indore edition. Within a few months, Dainik Bhaskar became the market leader and then there was no stopping it. Raipur, Bilaspur, and by 1995, it was the number one newspaper in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and the fastest growing daily. Outside MP, the first market it entered was Chandigarh. This was a challenging task as it was to launch a Hindi newspaper in a region primarily perceived to be dominated by English newspapers. To cater to the Chandigarh audience, a pre-launch survey was carried out. The findings revealed that people preferred a mix of Indian and English language, and that the English newspapers were perceived to be of better quality. Dainik Bhaskar immediately got down to work on its design and used a blend of Indian and English language to launch its Chandigarh edition. The same year saw ‘Dainik Bhaskar emerge as the largest newspaper of Chandigarh city with a significant lead of approx 2.5 times over its English newspaper rival’

Need to track a brand The process of tracking a brand involves soliciting customer feedback on the various dimensions of the brand. These dimensions can be related to the brand personality, brand image, marketing activities undertaken by the organization, etc. Managers can also undertake a brand audit to delineate the factors they need to track of the brand. Brand audits can help find the gap between brand identity and brand image, or the gap between what the organizations envision the brand to be and how the consumers perceive the same. Brand strategies can be formulated and revised to keep the brand relevant for the consumers. The audits have strategic implications and provide valuable inputs to the organizational activities regarding the designing of the brand personality and identity, and the marketing strategies.

What to track?

The brand chain Organizational vision and Culture Brand objective Brand identity and personality Brand marketing efforts  Product  Price  Place  Promotion and positioning  Internal branding and employee brand delivery Brand evaluation Brand image and consumer mind-set

Organizational vision and culture Leadership provided by the top management or senior-most influential person. Commitment of the top management towards the brand vision. Level of inspiration provided by the top management. The degree to which organizational culture supports brand vision. Involvement of the staff. Awareness among the staff about the vision of the brand. Commitment of the staff towards the brand values. The extent to which the brand values and employees’ values match. The relevance of brand values for consumers and external stakeholders in general. The degree of appreciation for brand values by the various stakeholders

Brand objectives The extent to which the brand objectives can be stretched. How the objectives can be achieved ‘differently’. Awareness levels of the staff about both the long-term and short- term objectives. Commitment levels of the staff in achieving the objectives. The extent to which the objectives are being achieved over a period of time

Brand identity and personality The extent to which the identity represents brand vision and values. The scope of the brand or the extent to which the brand can be stretched. The attributes and features of the brand. The organizational features (if they are being used to highlight the brand). The extent to which brand personality is in line with the brand vision. The extent to which the employees are in tune with the personality of the brand. The consumers’ understanding of brand personality. The gap between the organization’s design of and consumer’s perception of the brand personality. The degree of influence of the brand symbols in strengthening the brand value, personality

Brand marketing effort The degree to which the product features are in accordance with the brand value. Whether the price is as per the brand image. The degree to which brand positioning is in line with brand personality. The extent to which the various communication activities help in building the brand image. The extent to which the communication is in line with the brand identity. Whether the delivery of the brand is appropriate. The extent to which the choice of the channels are in line with the brand identity. The extent of the recruitment programme to reinforce the brand culture. The extent to which the brand behaviour of the employees is in line with the brand culture

Brand image and consumer mindset What the customers feel about the brand or the consumers’ attitude towards the brand. The extent to which customer perception is in line with the brand identity. The extent to which brand personality matches the customers’ perception of brand personality (Aaker’s personality traits help in measuring this and are discussed in Chapter 2). The meaning of the brand for the consumers. Consumer purchase behaviour for the brand

Research techniques

Exploratory research through qualitative techniques Conclusive research through quantitative techniques

Exploratory research through qualitative techniques As the name suggests, exploratory research helps explore the various relationships, associations, attitudes, feelings, etc., of the consumers towards a brand. The qualitative techniques used are helpful in identifying the various types of associations linked to a brand, the strength of the linkage, and the favorability and uniqueness of these associations. These techniques also help in identifying the sources of brand equity and so help in building strong brands

Qualitative techniques Secondary data search Survey of knowledgeable people – Depth interviews – Focus group interviews – Free associations – Projective techniques – Completion and interpretation tasks – Comparison tasks Analysis of select cases

Conclusive research through quantitative techniques Due to the small sample size, in qualitative research, the findings cannot be generalized. Thus, to overcome this drawback, quantitative research techniques are employed and due to this aspect they are also referred to as conclusive research. The quantitative techniques help in measuring brand knowledge, ‘depth and breadth of brand awareness, the strength, favorability and uniqueness of brand associations, brand judgments and feelings, and the extent and nature of brand relationships.’ These techniques help in tracking the ‘brand knowledge structures of consumers over time’

Quantitative techniques Descriptive studies – Use of statistical methods Experimentation – After-only design method – Before-after design method

Some qualitative research techniques Brand awareness – Studying brand recognition – Studying brand recall – aided and unaided recall Brand personality Brand image Brand response Brand relationships – Brand loyalty – Brand substitutability

Quick Recapitulation Rationale for tracking a brand Qualitative techniques to track a brand Quantitative techniques to track a band

Questions?