Brand Equity

Overview

Brand equity is the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response. Aaker (1991) identifies five dimensions: awareness, associations, perceived quality, loyalty, and proprietary assets. Keller (1993) structures Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) as a pyramid: Salience, Meaning, Response, and Resonance.

When to Use

• Auditing brand health and diagnosing weak equity components
• Designing brand-building or repositioning strategies
• Justifying brand investment to stakeholders with a structured framework
• Comparing brand equity positions across competitors

When NOT to Use

• Valuing a brand financially for M&A (use financial brand valuation methods)
• Short-term promotional effectiveness (use marketing mix models)
• When brand is not a relevant purchase factor (pure commodity markets)