I. INTRODUCTION
• Branding is a plan for earning product reputation and for making sure that the world knows about it and believes in it too.
• “Branding is the process by which companies distinguish their product offerings from the competition. Brands are created by creating a distinctive name, packaging and design.” (Egan & Thomas, 1998)
• 1st Brand name= Bass [beer], because British were the 1st with trademark registration.
• Customers (particularly consumers) view a brand as an important part of a product and branding can add value to a product. A brand can provide a guarantee of reliability and quality, in fact.
Ex. Chanel perfume bottle.
II. BRAND EQUITY
• Brands vary in the amount of power and value they have in the market place. Strong brands have high brand equity. Brand equity is the value of a brand based on the extent to which it has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality, strong brand associations and other assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships.
• According to Barwise, et. al. (1990), measuring the actual equity of a brand name is difficult.
“The only time you can be sure of the value of your brand is just after you have sold it” - Jeremy Bullmore, WPP Group [London-based advertising holding company]
• Therefore, perhaps it is better to define brand equity as “the extra value that customers perceive in a brand that ultimately builds long term loyalty.” (Burk, 2007)
Brand Equity Pyramid by Keller (2003)
• Higher brand equity provides the business with many competitive advantages: (1) produc ...