Commercial Models of Brand Equity Growth

Models have also been developed by commercial organizations. Young & Rubicam – have their own interpretation of the brand equity growth process. According to their model, brand equity growth is achieved by building on four brand elements – differentiation; relevance; esteem; and familiarity.

Differentiation represents the starting point of the growth process, as the brand cannot exist in the long run unless consumers can distinguish it from others. To attract and retain consumers, the brand needs to convince them that it is relevant to their individual needs. As competition increases, marketers wisely protect their brand and show consumers that it delivers what has been promised. The next challenge for managers is to ensure that consumers have regard and esteem for the brand’s capabilities. If the brand has established itself as distinctive, appropriate and highly-regarded, its ultimate success will depend on familiarity that is whether the brand is truly well known and is part of consumers’ everyday lives. Familiarity does not solely depend on advertising, albeit this is a notable contributor, but also results from consumers recognizing that the brand provides more value than other brands.

Young & Rubicam’s empirical analysis indicates that scores on relevance and differentiation provide an assessment of the brand’s potential for growth, and they refer to this as ‘brand vitality’. Furthermore, scores on esteem and familiarity measure the brand’s current strength, its ‘brand stature’. By plotting these values on the matrix, shown in Figure, it is possible to consider the equity the brand has achieved and identify appropriate strategies for its future growth.

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The Strategic Direction of Brand Strength Initially a brand begins its life in quadrant A with low, scores on all attributes. For the brand to move upwards into quadrant Band gain more vitality, managers need to invest in attaining higher levels of differentiation and relevance. Once brands have reached a higher level of ‘vitality’, brand owners have two options – maintenance by establishing them as niche brands, or investing in building the brand’s esteem and encouraging growth into quadrant C. The top right-hand quadrant is home to strong brands which have achieved remarkable brand equity growth, though they still may have potential for further growth. By maintaining the brand’s stature and creatively managing its vitality, managers can look forward to the brand having a long lifetime. However, without sufficient maintenance of the brand’s vitality, its differentiation and relevance fall, resulting in the brand increasingly selling on price promotions and declining to quadrant D. In such a situation, the brand becomes vulnerable to price wars. As firms lose confidence in a brand’s future, they cut marketing support, resulting in familiarity and esteem falling. Consequently brand equity falls as the brand slips back to quadrant A.

The framework by Young and Rubicam helps managers to understand the concept of brand equity and highlights which aspects of the brand (differentiation, relevance, familiarity and esteem) need attention over the short and long term. Moreover, by comparing the position of the company’s brands with that of competitors’ brands, the model suggests appropriate strategies to increase brand equity and protect it against competition.

Millward Brown International have devised a helpful diagnostic tool which, like the Young and Rubicam approach, enables managers to appreciate the basis for their brand’s ‘equity compared with competing brands. Their Brand Dynamics TM pyramid model is shown in Figure 11.3, portraying the way consumers’ value of a brand grows from a distant to a closely- bonded relationship.

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