A Study of the Brand Association of Customers with Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies

Abstract

For a brand to have value, it must be valued by the customer. Brands are built through a combination of rational and emotional elements and that emotions evoked by brands may enhance buying and consumption processes. Brands may be regarded as having duality appealing to both the head and the heart whereby strong brands blend product performance and imagery to create a rich, varied, but complementary set of consumer responses to the brand. India's oil market has so far been dominated by Public Sector Oil marketing Companies especially in the marketing of petroleum products. One particular customer behavior that has intrigued the marketers and researchers for long has been the indifference exhibited by fuel consumers while making choice amongst these three brands to refuel their vehicles. This research aims to study the level of brand association of the customers with public sector oil marketing companies. The results point towards the need to work on segmentation and marketing communication activities by these companies to build unique brand associations with different segments of the society.

Keywords: brand association, Indian oil marketing companies, customer association with brand