Brand awareness: revisiting an old metric for a new world
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-06-2016-1242 |
| Date | 21 August 2017 |
| Published date | 21 August 2017 |
| Pages | 469-476 |
| Author | Jenni Romaniuk,Samuel Wight,Margaret Faulkner |
| Subject Matter | Marketing,Product management,Brand management/equity |
Brand awareness: revisiting an
old metric for a new world
Jenni Romaniuk
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Samuel Wight
Mondelez International, South Wharf, Australia, and
Margaret Faulkner
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – Brand awareness is a pivotal, but often neglected, aspect of consumer-based brand equity. This paper revisits brand awareness measures
in the context of global brand management.
Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the method of Laurent
et al.
(1995), this cross-sectional longitudinal study examines changes in
brand awareness over time, with sample sizes of approximately 300 whisky consumers per wave in three countries: United Kingdom, Taiwan and
Greece.
Findings – There is consistency in the underlying structure of awareness scores across countries, and over time, extending the work of Laurent
et al.
(1995). Results show that a relevant operationalisation of brand awareness needs to account for the history of the brand. Furthermore, the nature
of the variation of brand awareness over time interacts with a brand’s market share.
Research limitations/implications – When modelling the impact of brand awareness researchers need to consider two factors – the brand’s
market share and whether a more stable or volatile measure is sought. This avoids mis-specifying the country-level contribution of brand awareness.
Practical implications – Global brand managers should be wary of adopting a “one size fits all” approach. The choice of brand awareness measure
depends on the brand’s market share, and the desire for higher sensitivity or stability.
Originality/value – The paper provides one of the few multi-country investigations into brand awareness that can help inform global brand
management.
Keywords Portfolio management, Brand awareness, Brand management, Market share, Top-of-mind awareness
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Globalisation of markets is on the increase, and with it a rise
in the global management of brands as more companies
enter more countries (Lee et al., 2008;Godey and Lai,
2011). As a result, a great deal of attention has been placed
on how brand strategies differ across markets (Alashban
et al., 2001;Shrum et al., 2012;Fetscherin et al., 2015)
because managers might need to devise strategies for a
brand that is well established in one country, but still
nascent in another. These circumstances lead to the
question:
Q1. Is it possible to have the same consumer-based brand
equity metrics for brands across countries?
Customer-based brand equity (CBBE) examines the value
of a brand from the perspective of customers because this
provides behavioural insights that can be converted into
actionable brand management strategies (Christodoulides
and Chernatony, 2004). Managers of global brands must
evaluate the performance of their marketing strategies in
different markets. This is an important step, because the
systematic monitoring and follow-up of brand performance
separates high-performing brands from their low-
performing counterparts (Anselmsson and Lars Anders,
2013). Consequently the demand for global brand equity
measurement has increased (Reza et al., 1998;Hsieh, 2004;
Christodoulides et al., 2015).
There are many different models of brand equity; however,
common across all is the inclusion of brand awareness as a key
component (Aaker, 1991;Keller and Davey, 2001). Brand
awareness is the degree to which customers are aware of the
brand as a member of the category, and typified by the link
between the brand and the category cue (Assael and Day,
1968). It is usually at the foundation of CBBE models,
because brand awareness is the first step in building brand
equity (Keller, 1993;Buil et al., 2013). As the most common
CBBE metric reported to company boards (Ambler, 2000), it
is one of the most visible brand metrics in a company. This
visibility makes the use of appropriate brand awareness
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
26/5 (2017) 469–476
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-06-2016-1242]
Received 30 June 2016
Revised 4 November 2016
Accepted 17 November 2016
469
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