Chapter 9: Developing a Brand Equity Measurement & Management System

The New Accountability

Marketing spend must be justified as effective and efficient

• Return on marketing investment (ROMI)

Increased accountability has forced marketers to:

• Address tough challenges

• Develop new measurement approaches

Conducting Brand Audits

Brand audit: comprehensive examination of a brand to discover its sources of brand equity

1. Brand inventory

2. Brand exploratory

Marketing audit

independent examination of a company’s marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities

1. Agreement on objectives, scope, and approach

2. Data collection

3. Report preparation and presentation

Brand Inventory

Current, comprehensive profile of how all products and services are marketed and branded

Requires marketers to catalogue:

• Visual and written form for each product or service

• Product attributes or characteristics of the brand

• Pricing, communications, and distribution policies

A digital inventory of brand assets may uncover:

• Outdated brand accounts that have fallen into disuse

• Overlapping brand assets which can be merged or deleted

• Brand accounts with information that is incorrect or out of date

• Channels where the brand does not have a presence

Brand Exploratory

• Helps identify sources of brand equity and possible barriers

• Research directed toward what consumers actually think and feel about a brand, and act toward it.

Three criteria to judge qualitative research techniques (Levy)

– Direction

– Depth

– Diversity

Digital marketing review - part of the brand audit

– Brand’s digital efforts in online channels, relative to competitors

– Important customer-level insights and industry trends

– Clearer picture of brand image and personality in digital channels

– Input to brand strategy development and brand positioning

– Health check and corrections if online strategy is inconsistent

John Roberts’s Brand Positioning Considerations

Designing Brand Tracking Studies

Brand tracking studies collect information from consumers:

• On a routine basis

• Usually quantitative

• On several key dimensions marketers identify in the brand audit

Brand extensions or additional communication methods:

• Make it difficult and expensive to research;

• But necessary

What to Track

• Product-Brand Tracking

• Corporate or Family Brand Tracking

• Global Tracking

Big Data and Marketing Analytic Dashboards

1. Big data enables continuous tracking of customers

2. Marketing analytic dashboards

   1. Systems and processes within an organization to communicate important metrics; and

   2. Make them available throughout an organization

Establishing a Brand Equity Management System

1. Brand Charter or Bible

2. Brand Equity Report

3. Brand Equity Responsibilities

Brand Charter or Bible

• Formalizes the company view of brand equity in a document

• Provides relevant guidelines to marketing managers and key marketing partners

• Should be updated annually

Brand Equity Report

Results of the tracking survey, other performance measures.

Create a brand equity report or scorecard:

• What is happening with the brand?

• Why is it happening?

• Includes more descriptive market-level information

Share with management regularly

Brand Equity Responsibilities

Define organization responsibilities for the brand

– Overseeing Brand Equity

– Organizational Design and Structures

– Managing Marketing Partners