Brand Equity Profile and the Measurement of its Components

Abstract:     
This research has a twofold purpose: first, to introduce a notion of "brand equity profile" based on the idea that "consumer-based brand equity" is a construct composed of various components. The utility of this concept stems out of the idea that brands can be differentiated not only by a degree of perceived value, but can also be characterized through value profiles depending on the combined intensities in its components. Thus, brands with similar profiles will tend to form market niches and compete directly with each other. Second, this paper presents an instrument to measure these brand equity components and thus determine these brand profiles. The questions used in this instrument were designed for different product categories and therefore constitute a "multi-product" instrument. This allows for comparisons to be made between brands in different product categories and classify them by profile type, independently of the products that constitute the brand. The process of design, trust and validity of this measurement instrument named 7CBE (7 Component Brand Equity) is presented. This instrument was applied to buyers-consumers in one of the seven product categories selected for this study. The scores obtained for each component of the brand equity profile, and the perceptual distances between each of the brands obtained through dendograms, are presented as results.

Keywords: brand equity, brand equity components, brand equity profile

JEL Classifications: M3, M31, M30

Working Paper Series